Dr. Mark Haigney, a cardiologist at the Uniformed Services University, performs an electrocardiogram in August 2020 on a plebe from the United States Naval Academy Class of 2024 (Photo by: Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dana Legg).
Resilience and ‘Holiday Hearts’
As for overall TFF, “it’s well accepted that stress will in the long term shorten your life due to cardiovascular disease, and in the short term can actually provoke cardiac arrest,” Haigney said. “One of the major things we know about stress is it has a lot to do with your job environment.”
Two people working the same number of hours in the same job may have very different health experiences, he explained. If one feels valued and has some autonomy, for example, they will work with a sense of purpose. If the other feels simply like a cog in the machine with minimal value, they run a substantially higher risk of a heart attack or some other negative health outcome.
That’s a reminder for commanders, but is also instructional for the outlook of the soldier, sailor, airman or Marine.
“A lot of this stuff that your coach taught you in high school turns out to be true, that your attitude really determines your fate in a very real way with your heart,” Haigney said.
The military’s long-time focus on resilience helps with this, according to published reports, including one from the RAND Corporation, prepared for the Air Force in 2013.
“By focusing on resilience, the Armed Forces aim to expand their care to ensure the well-being of military personnel and their families through preventive measures and not by just treating members after they begin to experience negative outcomes (e.g., depression, anxiety, insomnia, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, or suicidal ideation),” the report reads.
More recently, the Army’s October 2020 report on Holistic Health and Fitness said resilience “is the ability to face and cope with adversity; adapt to change; and recover, learn, and grow from setbacks. Resilient soldiers can better leverage mental and emotional skills and behaviors that promote enhanced performance and optimize their long-term health.”
A more common condition than Broken Heart Syndrome during December, January, and February is called “Holiday Heart Syndrome.” It is when patients have significant increases of irregular heartbeat, or atrial fibrillation, usually associated with binge eating or drinking (or both) around Christmas, New Year’s, and Valentine’s Day. It can happen to people with or without underlying heart conditions, and to those who exercise regularly. Atrial fibrillation can lead to a stroke, Haigney said, and becomes more common as you age.
“Part of it is probably because you don’t sleep well when you’ve had too much to drink, and any predisposition to sleep apnea, or obstructed breathing, can trigger atrial fibrillation,” he said. “Not neglecting your body is critical. Maintaining some degree of exercise, eating as well as you can, and avoiding binge behaviors ... will facilitate a recovery.”
Haigney is quick to point out that he is not a psychiatrist, but that from a TFF standpoint, ideological and spiritual fitness practices will help you when it comes to avoiding these conditions.
Counseling, too, he said, is “an incredibly important and often overlooked treatment. For people who have had a loss, they need to talk to somebody about it. Often, family members and friends don’t know what to say. Telling people to move on and not ruminate about it, that’s often not helpful. But having a professional involved can make a huge difference. ... It’s something that people in the military are not quick to resort to.
“Unfortunately, the idea that you should just ‘shake it off’ and get on with your life is pretty prevalent in the military,” Haigney said. “That’s a bad idea. I don’t think that’s a strategy that succeeds.”
For more on the holistic aspects of TFF, click here for TFF through the lens of social fitness, click here.