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Quick answer: Most adults do best on around 7–8 hours of sleep a night. Both too little (under 7 hours) and too much (over 9 hours) have been linked to higher cardiovascular risk in research studies — and quality matters as much as quantity: being sedated (for example, by alcohol) is not the same as […]

My video last week was about insulin resistance and fat accumulation in abdominal organs. Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and diabetes is a ticking timebomb the world is ill-prepared for, and readers will know my thoughts about lifestyle modifications that can help prevent these issues. However, I thought I would expand a little on this, as […]

I’ve been into gadgets since I was a child. The complexity of what’s available now would have delighted and amazed my 12 year old self. The amount of data we can have at our disposal is really incredible. Health ‘wearables’ in particular, can be really insightful. I use my apple watch daily for a number […]

Doctors are great at coming up with fancy words to make themselves appear cleverer than perhaps they are! I recall reading somewhere that completing a medical degree is the equivalent of learning a new language. The word phenocopy is a good example of this. In my world, it basically means a medical condition that looks […]

I’ve been rather fortunate to have only ever been to 2 funerals previously, and the last of those was over 20 years ago. My third came last week, and was that of my Dad’s best friend. I’ve known him over 40 years myself. It’s easy to speak highly of the dead, but Mark really was […]

I’m on day 7 of a week on call today, so will be glad when I can turn my phone off overnight tomorrow! It has been moderately busy, with some very interesting cases. The most worrying of these from a selfish perspective was the patient my age with a heart attack. If they had lots […]

I hope you have had a good start to 2024. I’ve had a great week, as my shoulder has been improving faster than I thought with physio, and I even managed 5 holes of golf yesterday with my son (playing with him is one of my all-time favourite things to do, and maybe I should […]

Welcome to my last heart research blog of the year! As is commonplace for this time of year, I thought a good way to round things off would be to highlight the most interesting research papers I have come across in 2023, and add a few key ‘take home’ messages. We are lucky in cardiology […]

Quick answer: Tom Lockyer’s on-pitch cardiac arrest is a reminder that pre-season cardiac screening for athletes, while valuable, doesn’t catch every risk — cardiac arrests in athletes remain rare and exercise itself is still overwhelmingly beneficial. The single most useful thing anyone can do is learn CPR, since fast resuscitation is what actually saves lives […]

I had fully intended to write today’s blog post in advance, because I’m currently away skiing. You know how it is though, trying to tie up loose ends before a holiday, particularly one the week before Christmas (on the plus side – we have had to be super-organised on that front!). Nevermind, best laid plans […]

I hope you’ve had a good week. It’s certainly a busy time of year for many people, myself included. In addition to Christmas, December brings both my children’s birthdays so added complexity! It’s enough to bring on palpitations! I think this is week 3 now on the subject of palpitations, and whilst they are very […]

Last week I explained how the electrical conduction system of the heart works, so now it’s time to see what happens when it misbehaves! I expect everyone has experienced a palpitation at one time or another, I know I certainly have! There are many causes, but one of the commonest is ectopic heart beats. As […]

I hope you have had a good week. Mine has been another super-busy one, with another conference in London. This week was the British Society for Heart Failure annual meeting. Rather than a video this week, I thought I would write so as to get some of the statistics I learnt down in black and […]

Over the last couple of weeks I have written about the sorts of questions doctors consider when it comes to palpitations, and the tests we do to investigate them. This week, I’ll talk about some of the causes. Clearly this is a big topic, so to split it up, I’ll divide them by the area […]

Last week, I wrote about palpitations, and the sorts of questions a Cardiologist will ask to try and determine the cause. This week, I will cover how we investigate palpitations with medical tests, before moving on next week to discuss the different heart rhythm issues specifically. The commonest test is an electrocardiogram, or ECG. This […]

What a rainy and miserable day today! Other than a dog walk it’s not been great to get outside, so instead, I’ve made our Christmas gravy. Sounds mad? Maybe, but delicious. For about 15 years now I’ve always made the same Jamie Oliver Christmas gravy recipe in advance and freeze it, with roasted chicken wings, […]

Quick answer: Around 5 million UK adults have undiagnosed high blood pressure. Normal is under 120/80; hypertension is 140/90 or above. Lifestyle changes are first-line treatment, with medication added when needed — and it’s one of the most treatable risk factors for heart disease we have. What is high blood pressure? So what is blood […]

Original article found here. Revolutionary technology which should reduce the need for patients with heart failure to be readmitted to hospital is being trialled by Bournemouth medics. The cardiology team at Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) is one of the first in the UK to trial the equipment. Heart failure means the heart is unable to […]