Thanks for joining me. I am your host, George Hahn. It is Wednesday, May 27th. You can hear that grind. This is... Yeah, these are the struggles of an independent media personality who is doing things... Oh my god, as I speak it just gets louder. I could not have timed this more poorly. Anyway, I'm going to power through this.
Today's word — I'm not going to do a word every day. I'm not going to do like a Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, but today's word is echocardiogram. An echocardiogram is a non-invasive, painless heart ultrasound that uses high-frequency sound waves to create real-time moving images of your beating heart, allowing doctors to visualize the heart's size, walls, valves, and blood flow to accurately diagnose and monitor heart conditions.
I had one of those yesterday. And the one I had specifically is called a transthoracic echocardiogram, or TTE, where a technician runs a handheld sensor all over my chest. Totally non-invasive. The whole procedure takes about 30 minutes.
Why, George, why were you getting an echocardiogram? Well, this goes along with the theme I have written about here on Substack and I've been talking about — which is, and I'm getting feedback here in the comments that people seem to be able to hear me all right, which is great. There is a filter that Substack uses with audio that is rather impressive. So, I'm glad that it's working.
Anyway, I have written recently here on Substack about, you know, the value of getting checked, getting your checks — whether you, if you're a woman, getting your breast exam, getting, seeing a gynecologist. All the things that, you know, are getting, getting checked for the menopause, the perimenopause and all of that. And for men, it's about, you know, get your prostate exam, get your colon cancer check, the colonoscopy. All of that stuff. And everybody in general, go see the dentist every year. Get your... Oh, it's winding down outside. Thank God. There's also a lot of grinding going on in my building, too. It's an... It's going to be a noisy summer here in my world.
So, I had, I've talked about this before, just after COVID, and I have a sneaking suspicion that this is from perhaps something to do with some long COVID symptoms where I was experiencing panic attacks, like anxiety, heart palpitations, some long-term COVID thing that was really playing not very nicely with my nervous system and my cardiovascular system. That's what it felt like. And it hit me like a ton of bricks and it went away after about six months. And then started to, not full flower, but started to resurface again.
I started having some of these sort of same heart palpitation-y, anxiety, panicky kind of feelings again in around February. And if you just... I would just get this like flutter in my chest, then a panic sensation. My face would get hot, and then I'd think like, 'Okay, can I breathe my way out of this?' You know, what's different now as opposed to five years ago when this was first happening, or four years ago, is that I have medication to help. Like, I can take a beta blocker, which seems to help. The real break-glass-in-case-of-emergency is an Ativan, but I haven't needed to take one of those in years, literally.
And also, I have tools now in the form of breathwork. I know how to do really good, effective breathwork now to sort of breathe myself out of a feeling of anxiety. So, anyway, when all that was happening, I thought, 'Why not be a little more proactive?' And I did this past February, and I checked in with my doctor, and then he put me in touch with a cardiologist. I got a referral there, and this guy said, 'Let's just, you know, like let's just take a good look at everything.'
So, I had last month, I wore for a week a Holter monitor. Nothing really happening there. That was a big silent movie. I wore that for about a week, and everything seemed okay there. I had my chest looked at — well, I get a chest exam, a chest X-ray, or not... What are they called? A lung scan every year since I quit smoking. I did the lung scan, which also takes a little peek at the heart. And my cardiologist looked at that and said, 'Okay, nothing crazy there.' And he said, 'Let's just take care of everything.' And one of those everything things is this echocardiogram. So, that's what I did.
And today I will presumably hear in my, in my chart if there's anything or if there are any points of concern. But, you know, I feel really good, actually. I have been feeling really good. I've been eating a... not totally plant-based, but I've been re-engaging with my exercise regimen. I've talked about that kind of ad nauseam, so I apologize for anyone who's sick of hearing about it. But riding my bike regularly — I'm going to get on the bike again today.
My eating habits have been much more focused on whole foods as opposed to processed foods, especially when I'm not going out to dinner, which is most of the time, despite what it might look like on social media. For breakfast or lunch, for example — I'm not a real breakfast person. I don't really... I haven't eaten yet today, for example. I will have for lunch today my oatmeal usual, which is Quaker Oats, although if I do feel like a fancy person, I will go into the McCann's steel-cut Irish oatmeal, but I don't have any in the cupboard at the moment. But that's about a 30-minute time commitment. No, the Quaker Oats is about five minutes, and I will have that because it's just 100% pure oats. I will have that with some chia seeds, raisins, blueberries, some sliced banana, and just splash a little honey on that situation, and that is breakfast/lunch, which is delicious.
Sometimes I will have... Yesterday I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but I have like... Yes, I'm 55 years old, and I love peanut butter and jelly, but I have multigrain bread, delicious. And I have a pure... that oil-separated peanut butter, the 100% natural peanut butter, no sugar added. It's just peanut butter — or peanuts — and a really good jelly, but a light spreading of it. The Bonne Maman, I will use the raspberry preserves, which are quite tasty. And that's my PB&J.
And then I'm like... I have been loving... I get my groceries from FreshDirect. I just don't have the patience or the interest in going to the grocery store. And they have been really good about sending really nice produce. Like the fruit they send, because that was my apprehension when I started ordering groceries online, thinking, 'Oh, I won't be able to touch and feel the fruit that I buy.' So I, you know, rolled the dice, and I got to say FreshDirect here in New York does a banging job sending like really good navel oranges. Like they peel nicely, they're juicy, they're tasty... I mean, they're like... I don't want to go on about that. Same thing with the apples. I get either Gala — or not the Honeycrisp — Gala and the... or Fuji apples. Is it Fuji or Fuh-jee? I don't know. Apples, and they're always super delicious. The bananas, really good. The blueberries, really good.
So, yeah, and then for dinner, like for example, last night for dinner I had quinoa. I make quinoa a lot, actually. I had quinoa and some steamed broccoli, and I put a little... little salt and pepper and some... What is that? Amino acids? Bragg's aminos? So great. So great. So anyway, I'm keeping it really clean. I'm having a lot of beans. I've been making a lot of bean salads, which is delicious. And just taking care of things.
So that way when I do go out, when I do have a nice... when I do go out with friends for dinner and I have fries or a burger or a veggie burger or a bagel, cream cheese, I don't feel so bad because I know that most of the time at home I have a very plant-based, clean, whole-food kind of a thing. So that when I do go out, I'm not... you know, I know people who when they go out, they don't enjoy it. Like the whole point of going out is to enjoy it, and I don't really understand going out and not eating the bun. Like, save that for when you're at home. Like, we're out, let's enjoy the fries, you know what I mean? Like, whatever. If I had my druthers, I'd have french fries every night, but that's just not... that's just not good for us.
Anyway, so I do all of this, and I'm getting the heart looked at, and I have another heart exam. I forget... let me... In fact, I will tell you right now. I'm going to pull up my schedule, and I'm going to tell you the other exam that I'm having. Is it next week? Yes, I'm having a CTA coronary, and I'm not allowed to have caffeine for a whole day before. Ugh. That's happening in a couple of weeks. I'm not looking forward to that because I guess that's a longer process. In fact, I got to call them and ask them how long that's going to take. Ugh. But yeah, a CTA coronary, it's called. I got to research the details on that.
Whatever. And then a few days after that I got to go to Cleveland to an event, which I'm really kind of looking forward to. Anyway, I'm just getting things looked at. And my cardiologist, when I met him — and I really appreciated this, he's very plant-based as well — my cardiologist said, 'Let's just... let's just look at everything. Let's just examine all the possibilities. You've had stress tests. You've done nuclear stress tests. You've had EKGs. You've had the chest scan. Let's just do a couple of other things just to make sure that everything is like copacetic.' And so far everything's looking okay. I'm on a statin, and I feel really good lately. So, you know.
That's what's happening. I'm going to take a look at some of your comments here. Suzanne says, 'I do breathwork daily to get me through every crazy-ass day. My husband has had two heart surgeries. Last one was December. Definitely keep on top of any heart issues. By the way, my husband is doing amazingly well, getting ready to celebrate our 50th anniversary.' Wow, Suzanne. That's fantastic. Thank you.
And then I appreciate... Glenn says, 'I recommend FreshDirect prepared salads.' I've had those, Glenn. Thanks for the reminder. I do love FreshDirect prepared salads as well. Square breathing — you mean box breathing. Four, four, four, four. Yes, I love box breathing.
For those of you who don't know box breathing, well, there are two or three breath exercises that I rotate. Box breathing is when you do four seconds and you inhale through the nose, by the way. We're not supposed to be inhaling through our mouth. Just a general note for everybody. Inhale through the nose. So, when you box breathe, you inhale through the nose for four seconds, hold for four seconds, then exhale for four seconds, then hold for another four seconds, and then do the cycle again. So, four, four, and four. It's called a box breathe. Navy SEALs do this. Box breathing is great, but just make sure that the inhaling is happening through your nose. You can exhale through your mouth. But inhale through the nose. I did not know that until a few years ago.
My sweet friend Paul Chamberlain, who's the host of a podcast called Smart Funny Tortured, sent me this great book by James Nestor called Breath. And it's about how we breathe. And it was game-changing for me. So, I owe that to Paul. And actually, when he had sent me that book, I realized I had heard James Nestor on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. And he addresses breathing and how we breathe and the influence it really has on our overall health.
You know, so... and also, be patient with it. Meaning, yeah, I can probably pull myself out of an anxiety attack with some smart breathing, but at the same time, it took me some time to really learn how to do it. So, I'm not going to get immediate results after one breathing exercise or two breathing exercises. It's a daily application, and it's only... you can do it in 10 minutes. It's not a big deal. Not even 10 minutes. Take five. At least it's better than nothing.
So, I do the box breathe. I also do this other one called 4-7-8, where you inhale for four seconds, hold for seven seconds, and then exhale for eight seconds. That's really good when you want to like slow down your heart rate and like get ready for bed, for example. I do the 4-7-8 often when I get on a plane after we take off and I just want to chill, I will do the 4-7-8. That's very effective on a flight, actually, in my case. And I will do about 10 cycles of it. So, I'll do 4-7-8 about 10 times. Or the box breathe, 4-4-4-4, 10 times.
Another one that I like to do is the five-and-a-half and the five-and-a-half. That's a standard in-and-out breath. That's in for five and a half seconds, out for five and a half seconds. In for five... no hold, just in and out. So, yeah, breathwork has been amazing and a real game-changer. It's like a small meditation, I suppose. And I have my friend Paul Chamberlain to thank for that, and James Nestor and the great work that he did and put into that book, which I refer to often. And I recommend highly. Again, it's called Breath by James Nestor.
And then exercise, riding a bike. You're not training for a triathlon. I love riding my bicycle. I talk about this all the time. I rode my... I went... When I went to the echocardiogram yesterday, I took my bike. I rode down to Montefiore, down at Hudson Yards, where I had the echocardiogram. I didn't know where I was going to get it done. They just started doing them there at that location, which is great. Very sexy location, by the way, that office, that medical office is very sort of like... Yeah, that's what medical treatment should be. Because as we all know, when you go to see a doctor, depending on the facility, it can be real junky and busted up. It can suck.
Cleveland Clinic does a great job, too. Like when you go to a Cleveland Clinic facility, it's generally like the waiting room, the treatment rooms, it's all pretty clean and nice. And this place was like right out of Westworld. Everything was new and fantastic. Like One Medical, excuse me.
Other comments here. Rory Kelsh says, 'Please stay healthy. I'm online to see Death of a Salesman.' Oh, good for you. Yeah, you're going to love Death of a Salesman, Rory. Good for you. I saw it a few weeks ago. CloJo, whoever that is, says, 'We need to talk about mental health more, considering these times.' For sure. One thing that's frustrating is everyone talks about self-care, but in my case, it means my friends are spending thousands on fillers and not feet. So... Well, there is something to be... a little bit to be said about self-care with lasers. My skin... My skin's looking real good today, by the way. I got to say.
And I love how the Botox... See that? If you're watching the video version of this episode, you can see I have movement. I can still be expressive. Right? I can still be expressive. But it's a little like... it's softened in the glabella, the 11s, those frown lines. That's called the glabella. That's the only muscle in the face I know. And then he's... he injected me around the crow's-feet area and under the jaw to sort of tighten there. But very mild. Some people over... A lot of people actually overdo it with Botox. And, you know, to look immobile is weird.
Patricia Yeager here says, 'I buy some flowers for myself.' Oh, good for you. That's nice. That's nice. That's nice. I really like orchids. Halston and I have that in common. Yeah, that's really good. But I... you know, physical exercise, community, getting together with people. Like I go to meetings and see people all the time. That's great. I'm going to go to a meeting tonight, Wednesday, and see some of my people. That's always great. I love that fellowship and it just... Yeah. Get together with friends.
Watch... I finished finally watching Kara Swisher's... Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever show on CNN. And the last episodes... It's a six-episode limited series. Maybe they'll do a second season, who knows. And the last episode had a lot to do with community. And she... There's a segment in Korea. She goes to South Korea and gets together with the Korean grandmas. And they have got this like love cabin. I don't know what else to call it. That's my phrase, nobody else's.
These hilarious grandmas, these Korean grandmas who just like enjoy one another's... one another's company. They have... They eat meals together. They have... They pack a lunch. They go to the park. They're laughing. Laughter. Making each other laugh. Telling each other jokes. Getting up, moving, walking, exercising. I mean, it was really inspiring. In my next life, I want to be a Korean grandma. I mean, really good stuff. So, I highly recommend Kara's series on CNN, Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever.
And then she ended the series — I'm not going to want to spoil anything — but she spends time with her brother Jeff. I know Jeff, too. He's Kara's brother, Jeff Swisher, Dr. Jeffrey Swisher. He is an anesthesiologist and could not be a nicer guy. Very good at what he does. All three of the Swisher children, all of Lucky's children, are highly functioning, successful, driven, focused people. Jeffrey, Kara, and there's another brother, David, who's an attorney. And they're all very good at what they do. And Jeffrey's very handsome, too. And so, there's some stuff with them just spending time together as siblings and talking about their dad and having oysters. Lovely. I love oysters. So, all of that. I highly recommend it.
Lori here says, 'It took me months to get my primary to refer me to specialists. He didn't ignore what I was saying, ran basic tests, basic blood tests, but when I told him I know something is different and I feel like you're not listening, he listened. Just saw rheumatology. I was right. So now more tests, but we are moving forward. Always advocate for yourself.' Amen. Amen. Always advocate for yourself. And again, as I'm doing now, get checked, man.
And this whole... this whole Robert F. Kennedy Maha science moment needs to f*** off really hard. I love vaccines. I love mRNA vaccines. Vaccines, you guys, are the reason so many of us are still around. So, go with what your doctor says. Completely ignore everything that RFK Jr. says. It's too exhausting to try to parse out what he's... when he does something right. Why bother? I can't wait till that guy's out of our lives. I cannot wait until that nutter, the dumbest candidate, is out of our lives.
I love vaccines. I'm a huge fan. I'm a huge fan of science. I'm a huge fan of medical expertise. I'm a huge fan of the pursuit of excellence over years of study. None of which Robert F. Kennedy has. So, you know, there's that.
Laura here says, 'You are amazing. I love your truth.' It's not my truth, Laura. It's just the truth. I do not own any special truth. In fact, that phrase has always kind of bothered me. My truth, her truth, his truth, your truth, their truth. No, there's just the truth. You know? There's my point of view. But that's not my truth. I have a point of view. Sometimes it aligns with the truth. And I think that goes for everybody. So, anyway.
That all said, I'm going to let you guys go. Thank you guys so much for hanging out. I like this habit. I like this habit of doing this thing, making this thing a nooner every day. This is fun. So, let's keep it up. If you are a paid subscriber, I love you double. So, if you are not a paid subscriber, please consider. I do do some exclusive content for the paid subscribers. Not a ton, because I like to keep the doors open. But I do like to come up with ways to thank those who are financially supportive. So, thank you all very much for hanging out. And if you are not a paid subscriber, please consider it. And until tomorrow, I will see you later. Have a great day.
