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Heart Beat: On the links to recovery

Heart Beat

On the links to recovery

Fifty years ago, in February 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower spent ten days golfing and quail hunting around a Georgia plantation owned by his friend, Treasury Secretary George Humphrey. That sporting vacation, Eisenhower's first since suffering a heart attack the September before, represented a milestone for Ike (Time magazine called it a "psychological breakthrough") and for heart attack survivors then and now.

Before the 1950s, strict bed rest followed by months of limited activity was thought to be the best medicine after a heart attack. Returning to work was the exception rather than the rule.

But President Eisenhower wasn't one to sit still. Luckily, research was just beginning to show that early movement and activity were helpful, not harmful. The plan for his recovery included a low-fat diet, daily exercise, efforts to control stress, and a gradual reintroduction of normal activity.

Ike's return to work and play demonstrated that a heart attack needn't keep someone on the sidelines. Unfortunately, it wasn't the end of his cardiovascular problems. During his second term in office, Eisenhower had a small stroke. Before his death in 1969, he had at least six other heart attacks and a dozen cardiac arrests.

Since then, we have learned a lot more about recovery from a heart attack. We now have procedures such as angioplasty and bypass surgery to restore blood flow, better medicines to protect the heart during and after a heart attack, and easier access to machines that jump-start the heart if it lapses into a potentially deadly rhythm. We also know more about the importance of exercise, healthy eating, and managing anger, stress, and depression for cardiac rehabilitation.

We tend to take these changes for granted today, so much so that having a Vice President with an implanted cardioverter/defibrillator barely raises an eyebrow.

Last updated:	September 05, 2008