Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod, cohosts of TV’s Body Break segments walk along the Halifax waterfront Monday.(CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)

Time for a winter tune up
Get cholesterol checked, take medications, monitor activity for top heart health

WHEN YOU think of someone suffering from seriously high blood pressure, you don’t picture a man who looks like Hal Johnson.

The co-host of television’s Body Break snippets, Johnson looks easily a decade younger than his 49 years.

But in his youth, while going through a routine physical exam as a member of Canada’s national baseball team, Johnson was diagnosed with hypertension. At the time, he had eight per cent body fat, but he’s been on daily blood pressure medication ever since.

Johnson and his partner, Joanne McLeod, were in Halifax on Monday to talk about the higher incidence of heart disease in the winter and Johnson said the problem begins with people being even less active than usual when the weather turns cold.

"But heart disease isn’t caused by winter … it’s just that we put more strain on it in the winter time. We haven’t eaten properly, we haven’t had our cholesterol checked," he said. "Get your cholesterol checked to make sure your arteries aren’t clogged. If you don’t, then how do you know if your heart is strong or healthy?

"One thing we find is that people don’t take their cholesterol medication that their doctor prescribes. Less than 50 per cent of Canadians — even if they’ve had a heart attack — actually take their medication."

Every winter, there are stories of people suffering a heart attack after shovelling their driveway.

"It’s because you’re lifting something, often above your heart; you’re going from zero to 100 miles an hour. You’ve probably done no activity all year and you’re doing both a cardio workout and a strength training workout," said Johnson, who splits the shovelling duties with McLeod at their Oakville, Ont., home. "So you’re really taxing your body."

"No wonder people are dropping. It’s just like hockey. A lot of guys will play … hockey and they’ll drop dead when they leave the rink; it happens all across the country. Well, hockey, just like snow shoveling, doesn’t get you in shape; you’ve got to get in shape to do the activity.

"Also, the cold air constricts the blood vessels, which requires the heart to work faster to keep it warm," added McLeod.

After 18 years and 245 Body Breaks together, dealing with all aspects of fitness and nutrition, Johnson and McLeod are taking on topics like smoking and cholesterol.

Both are every bit as positive and bubbly in person as they are on TV and say the questions they get from people haven’t changed over the years.

"The No. 1 question is: ‘How do I get motivated?’ Often the motivation comes when a family member or friend has a heart attack," said Johnson, who added that eating properly and exercising are different tasks, but equally difficult, and greatly affected by your peers.

"For example, if you hang around with people that are exercising, whether you join a walking group, or whatever, you’re more apt to continue with that. And those people that are exercising are probably, in most cases, eating better. What we find at our website (bodybreak.com) is that more people click on the diet stuff than on the exercise stuff."

Both Johnson and McLeod say they get asked all the time for advice on whether someone should buy a treadmill or exercise bike for the home. What they recommend, instead, are two items that are both smaller and cheaper.

"The No. 1 piece of fitness equipment is a heart rate monitor. If you don’t know what your heart rate is, you don’t know how much you’re straining that engine," Johnson said. "Heart rate monitors range anywhere from $59 to $400.

"And step counters just keep track of the number steps you take in a day. Most people are between 2,000-3,000 steps in a day and we should be working towards 10,000," added McLeod. "A step counter is a way to monitor that and it’s as simple as taking the stairs, parking your car a little farther away from your office, or walking to the store. Little things like that increase your activity level."

Both said the keys to heart health and fitness may not be easy, but they are simple. "Eat properly, exercise a little bit, go to your physician before you start an exercise program to be sure you’re on the right track, and if your doctor prescribes medication, take it," said Johnson, who, looking from the Halifax waterfront to the Citadel, thought the city’s residents who wanted to get fit had a built-in advantage.

"Go up that hill, and your heart rate is going to be something!"

( bspurr@herald.ca)

’No wonder people are dropping . . . you’ve got to get in shape to do the activity.’

HAL JOHNSON
Body Break