Holiday Heart Syndrome, a condition linked to stress, sugar, and alcohol, becomes a concern during the festive season. This episode delves into how holiday indulgences, like excessive sweets and cocktails, can strain the heart, leading to potential health risks. The discussion emphasizes the importance of moderation and the hidden dangers of habits like heavy drinking, which can exacerbate breathing issues and impact cardiovascular health.

Listeners will also gain valuable tips for celebrating more healthfully, such as incorporating stress-reduction strategies, opting for natural sweeteners, and exploring alternative relaxation methods. With practical advice and a touch of humor, the episode encourages mindful holiday habits to ensure a joyous and heart-healthy season.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:00 – Introduction to Holiday Heart Syndrome

00:51 – Alcohol and Heart Health

01:58 – Alcohol’s Historical Role in Medicine

02:28 – Tips for Celebrating Healthier Holidays

03:53 – Managing Stress During the Holidays

04:33 – Healthy Holiday Treat Alternatives

06:29 – The Impact of Stress on the Heart

07:44 – Closing Remarks and Humor

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:00:00] Do you have holiday heart? Joining us now, healthy living expert. I’m in trouble. A holistic approach to holiday merriment. Dr. Matt Chalmers joins us. Holiday heart. Hey, good morning.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:15] Good morning. How are you guys?

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:00:16] I’m going to be good. Holiday Heart is now. This is an full on heart attack. Is it?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:21] It can be, this is one of the big things that we’re talking about is the the correlation between heart attacks and the effectiveness of big celebrations like Christmas.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:00:30] Okay. Now, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Tom and Jerry’s. It’s a northern thing. It’s basically six egg whites a pound and a half of powdered sugar. And then in that batter, as you mix it all up and get it frothy, you throw in a bunch of spices and add some liquor and hot milk, and that’ll put me in the hospital. I bet you,

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:51] That sounds amazing. But yeah. What are the big things that we’re seeing? Is that the giant amounts of sugar and the alcohol and all the stress and I don’t forget the stress is one of the big components is creating lots and lots of pressure on the heart. And so remember the big thing, remember alcohol when we talk about heart attacks is that alcohol greatly induces breathing problems for a lot of people. So if you snore more when you drink, snoring is a sign of sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea, which is one of the most damaging breathing problems that we have for the heart and the brain.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:01:25] Alcohol. Does an alcohol relax everything, though? Maybe that’s the problem.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:30] Well, it can. So there’s a couple of different things. It relaxes the musculature of the jaw so we have more obstructive function. But one of the reasons that alcohol poisoning can kill you is that it suppresses that little system in your brain that tells you to continue to breathe. So you just stop breathing and die.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:01:47] How in the world did alcohol become part of medicine then? Because, I mean, you know, the old days, you get a cough medicine, even had alcohol in it. How in the world did that happen?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:58] Well, remember, alcohol is a great preservative. So if you’re going to put other things in there and there’s an alcohol in there, it keeps it fresher longer. Plus, it burns the blood that there is to moderate alcohol, small amounts, although there is some medical benefit to it.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:02:12] Like a glass of wine. You always hear about how good that is for the blood. Right. Red wine or something?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:17] Yeah. So go ahead.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:02:20] Well, I was just going to say, get your recommendations on what we should be doing to celebrate, because you can’t just sit in a corner.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:28] No, No. Well, it’s like you said, you know, it’s one of those deals where be cognizant of alcohol. You know, there’s a lot of reasons to drink. Not all of them are great reasons. But, you know, moderate that. And you’re pretty good on that one. As the guy who did a Ted Talk on cannabis, I would tell you that cannabis is a much safer option for relaxation. But that’s not a big thing socially. So if you monitor our sugar, we can monitor our alcohol intake. Usually we’re going to be pretty good.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:02:58] A little Christmas pot, Is that what you’re saying? Come on, doc.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:04] It is. It is medically safer than alcohol is.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:03:08] All right. Christmas gummies? I guess so. And so, like, a little scented gummy or something? I don’t know. But. So you can’t not have. I mean, my mother’s peanut brittle. I got to have it. I can’t not have that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:25] As long as we make this kind of a one day thing and we try to take as much stress out of it as we can. You’re going to be fine. The problem we get into is that people have way too much alcohol and sugar and stress four days long. And then that’s the problem. You are the stress piece of this. Yeah, there’s there’s GI amounts of stress on everybody to get the stuff done, be there, show up right. Do all the things. You know, that stress is probably one of the biggest issues we run into. So if we can deal with our stress, it’ll help the rest of the stuff out considerably.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:03:53] Isn’t it funny how we’ve taken a holiday that should be really. No. Stress should be just happiness and goodness and calm and peace on earth. Good will do that. And we turn it into this. Just this just onslaught of stress and sugar and holiday heart. It’s weird how we’ve done that, but, you know, that’s our fall in nature. What do you do then as the chief executive in charge of healthy, healthy living expert? I bet nobody likes coming to your house, do they, Doc? I mean, you all we’re going to have. We’re going to have gummies. We’re going to have kale. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:33] Absolutely not, Kale. So we have like, we were doing turkey, we’re doing brisket. We’re doing a bunch of this stuff. We we we do a lot of the keto stuff. We make amazing cheesecakes and brownies and pecan pies and stuff like that. So the sugar has been replaced with allulose and stevia and those type of things. So yeah, that’s fantastic. It is. It is delicious. You can have everything and still, if you can put it together, right, you can take all the sugar and the alcohol out and leave all the flavor in.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:05:05] Yeah. Knowing, knowing what you’ve told me now I know I’m not eating one of your brownies. I know that. But what about honey? As a sweetener that seems to be like a natural, good, natural thing.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:16] Honey is fantastic. If you can find especially raw, natural. Honey, there’s a lot of honeys that are not really honey mixed with ciphertext. Corn sirup. If you can find a not a raw, natural honey, it’s fantastic. It’s sweetened and it doesn’t raise your glycemic function. So it’s great for diabetics and for people who are worried about insulin control and sugar.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:05:34] I love it. All right. But I got to have me a time, and you should try it. Just. If I should send.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:41] You there, I would definitely try. It sounds amazing.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:05:44] Yeah. And you’re not in a cold climate. But when it gets to be really cold outside and we’re going to have a warm Christmas in Michigan. But relatively. But when it’s really cold outside, a hot tom and Jerry, you put a shot of brandy and a shot of rum into into that. Buddy, now you’re talking. You want to you want one?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:09] I would love to try one. If I’m ever in this, I’m a little 100% dry one.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:06:13] Well, and I will. I’ll get you I will text you the the. I have a family recipe for mine. But let’s talk about stress reduction, because you could go and eat all the healthy food you want. But if you’re under a lot of stress, that’s going to wait as stress so bad on your heart. What does it do to it?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:29] It shifts you from what’s called a parasympathetic which is resting, digesting to the nervous system, to sympathetic, which is fight flight. And when that happens, it changes the whole work of the body and that stress increases heart rate, increases oxygen. And so it makes the heart have to work even harder to do what it’s trying to do. So that’s one of the reasons that stress is bad for us. The number one thing that people should do when they’re under stress is, you know, baby, for the first time, don’t talk to a therapist. Because what ends up happening is that we all have little cracks in our psyche. And when pressure is applied, those cracks become more apparent. And so you can learn a lot more about yourself and how to kind of deal with your stress in a time like this than any other time of your life. So you can learn a lot about yourself to do that. But the other thing that’s come of us down is to exercise. If we can figure out a way to exercise, you know, on these days, it’ll help tremendously.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:07:20] Yeah, If you’re fighting, take a walk, you know, to take a walk. Walk it off. There is something to add to that, I think. Cracks in my psyche. That’s the title of my new album. I’m going to put on a new year. My my ghosted cracks in my psyche. All right. Well, we’re up on time. Are you hosting tonight and over the weekend or are you going away? What are you doing? You’re having gummies.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:44] Yeah, of course. Whatever. What are we going to do to calm down? Yeah, it’s a great go down.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:07:52] You walk into Doc’s house and he’s got a kale wreath hanging on the door. Everyone has to take a bite out of it. And then he passes out the gummies and a glass of wine. And then they all sing songs. And dog just says, Calm down. Everyone. Just. Just chill. I like it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:09] Yeah, very.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:08:10] Let’s let’s sing. Doctor Chalmers doctor mentioned. Where do we find you, by the way? We find you on the web.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:17] Tell everybody Summers want to scan, and then I do a podcast every morning on under Dr. Chalmers and the number one.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:08:26] Every morning you do a podcast?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:28] Yep.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:08:30] Man, you’re a glutton for punishment. All right, Doc, we appreciate it. Dr. Matt Chalmers. He’s a good guest on. Appreciate that. Hey, Merry Christmas.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:39] Merry Christmas, sir.

FOX NEWS RADIO Host [00:08:40] See you.

As always if you have any questions, please send them to [email protected]

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Dr. Matt Chalmers

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness