Billy May autopsy may teach heart lesson

Though preliminary autopsy results are not conclusive, it appears that the pitch king may have died from a heart event, more than likely an arrythmia related to prior heart disease. If you assess May from a health perspective, you can see he was overweight and much of his weight was what is called central obesity, fat carried in his abdomen. It's impossible to know, without asking close friends, family, if he managed stress well. Certainly stress can amplify inflammatory changes that are present and contributing to heart disease. If he traveled alot - he may have also had sleep deprivation, which again, can contribute to cortisol elevations and inflammatory changes.

The first sign of heart disease can unfortunately be a cardiac event - sudden death. Hypertension, or high blood pressure can be silent; so can increasing levels of plaque acumulation. If you are lucky, you are getting yearly physicals and some of these "silent issues" can be picked up early by tests. If you are still "lucky" you may experience headaches from high blood pressure or angina from clogged arteries trying to maintain blood flow when stressed, so you have early warning signs and can seek help. For as many as 30% of the population who have heart disease, you find out you have heart disease when you die - a terrible and often times avoidable outcome.

Since Mr. May was scheduled for hip surgery, I would think that he had been "cleared for surgery" however, sometimes that is done just before surgery. It's unclear if he was being treated for hypertension, cholesterol issues, weight issues or other health conditions. What is clear is that we can learn something from this initial autospy information. Heart disease is the #1 killer of men and women. As we age, risk of heart disease increases. It also increases if you carry excess weight, eat a highly processed diet, are sedentary, undergo high levels of stress, have diabetes or even pre-diabetes. Know your risk by learning the facts. Go to http://www.americanheart.org/.

You can also sign up for my free daily health tip at http://www.healthgal.com/ and pick up a copy of Fat Families Thin Families at http://www.amazon.com/.