As heart disease is a leading cause of disability, I thought it might be a good idea to present these holiday health ideas presented by Dr. Mehmet Oz on abcnews.co.com:

Limit drinking; never have two drinks in a row

Alcohol is acutely toxic to the heart, Oz says.  It can literally irritate the heart muscle and increase the body’s autopilot response to boost your blood pressure and your heart rate.  The heart’s natural pacemaker gets thrown off, and so does your heartbeat.

“Have one drink of alcohol, then a glass of water,” Oz advises.  That will also make you feel better the next day. because hangovers are primarily the result of dehydration of the brain.

Avoid high-fat foods; never have food in both hands at the same time

Studies show a high-fat meal can lead to a dysfunction in artery lining for 6 to 12 hours after eating.  That dysfunction makes the heart vessel spasm, so if you already have a little bit of blockage, it closes off the vessel even more, and that can lead to a heart attack.

Oz advises avoiding fried appetizers and any fats that are solid at room temperature, such as frosting.  And he has a simple tip to avoid overeating, “Always keep one hand free to shake hands,” he says.  “At no time during a party should you ever have food in both hands simultaneously.”

Stay 6 to 8 feet from a burning fireplace

Fine particulates from fireplace smoke can lodge in your lungs and trigger a clot and a heart attack.  “It can cause spasm of some of the arteries,” he says.

There is no perfect distance because it depends on the room’s ventilation, but he says try to stand 6 to 8 feet away.

Know the Symptoms of Heart Attack

“If you think you’re having symptoms of a heart attack…call 911 and get a chewable aspirin, “Oz says.

For women, symptoms of a heart attack include indigestion, shortness of breath and sweating.  Men are more likely to get chest pain than women are.

And, finally, this is not from Dr. Oz – it’s from me.  The holidays should be a time of joy, so enjoy them.  If you’re feeling stressed during the holidays, take a long walk and appreciate the sights.  Or, perform a random act of kindness toward another.  It works for me every time.

When describing disability insurance to prospective buyers we, as agents, often deal in hypothetical situations – “if you injure your hand, if you have a heart attack, etc.”  However, I find that real-world situations make a better case for the need for disability insurance.  The following story is an excerpt (with name change) from a Service Bulletin I received from one of our insurance companies, Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America:

Janice, a partner in a dental practice, one day felt a lump and sought a medical explanation.  Early diagnostic efforts suggested it was a benign mass but treatment would reveal a form of leukemia that would lead to a more aggressive treatment regimen. Devoted to her practice, Janice worked regularly though early treatment, often working up to three out of every four weeks, leaving little time to recover from the rigors of chemotherapy. However, the next phase of treatment would include added challenges, including a bone marrow transplant, for which she had to relocate to another city.

As Janice was not able to return to her practice during this period, she naturally received benefits for total disability. Furthermore, given that she also had coverage for residual disability, and a qualifying loss of income, she received residual benefits beginning with the onset of her chemotherapy, even though she was continuing to work at that time.

While her transplant was a success and she was able to return home, Janice will be unable to return to her practice of dentistry for some time. Fortunately, her disability insurance will be there for her and the insurance company will continue to pay her benefits until she returns to work.

I will try to include these claims stories in future blog entries, as we hear of them.  I think these stories make a better case for the need for disability insurance than any hypothetical I can conjure up.

Your disability policy has been approved but your lower back is excluded from coverage.  Not fair, you say?  That’s certainly a viewpoint I hear a lot.  Here’s how I look at it – the insurance company, by carving out a condition that presents a high risk to the company is able to make you an offer and issue a policy. The alternative would be to not issue the policy.

The wording of exclusions is typically fairly general (e.g. lower back, as mentioned above) and is often an area of concern for policyholders.  While the concern is understandable, it’s important to understand why the exclusion is worded so generally and how the insurance companies adjudicate claims having to do with the exclusion.

Exclusions, like other policy language, have to be filed with each state’s insurance commission.  If each possible exclusion was included, the list would be far too long.  Therefore, “lower back” can include all the discs in the area, surrounding muscles and tendons, etc.

When evaluating a claim for benefits, an insurance company will determine if the medical concerns that necessitated the exclusion have any effect on the claim.  Specifically, they will determine if the preexisting condition is a contributor to the current disability.  For instance, a recent car accident would be looked at as the reason for the disability, even if there were lower back problems previously.  If preexisting history is, in fact, a contributor to the current disability, benefit would not be paid.

There are many causes of disability and, even with one exclusion, disability insurance, should be an important component of any financial plan.

Happy Valentine’s day.

Okay, now that I have your attention, here is some interesting information I found regarding heart disease and disability:

• According to the National Academy of an Aging Society, almost 18 million people – 7 percent of all Americans have heart disease. More than half of the population with heart disease is under age 65.
• According to the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease is the leading cause of premature, permanent disability in the U.S. labor force.  People with heart disease are more limited in the type or amount of work they can do compared to those without heart disease.
• According the National Academy of an Aging Society, more than 22 percent of  workers with heart disease have work limitations, compared to just 8 percent of workers without heart disease.
• Coronary heart disease is particularly disabling. Among workers age 51 to 61, for example, some 44 percent of those with heart disease and 56 percent of those with coronary heart disease report that their condition is the cause of a limitation in the type or amount of paid work they can do.
• Coronary heart disease accounts for 19 percent of disability allowances by the Social Security Administration.

Now for the good news – many forms of heart disease are largely preventable. Controlling conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and engaging in a healthy lifestyle (including quitting smoking) can reduce the risk of heart disease.  And, to protect against the loss of income from heart disease (as well as other health conditions), you should have a long term disability policy.  Health insurance will pay the medical bills, but it won’t replace your income.

Protect your health by changing your lifestyle, if necessary, and protect your income with disability insurance.