Concord cardiologist offers mind-body approach to women’s cardiovascular health

So it’s not surprising she is focused on reducing heart disease in women using “a breakthrough mind-body approach’’ that combines traditional medicine with emotional balance.

Wood, codirector of the Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, has written a book with Dimity McDowell, “Smart at Heart,’’ recently released by Harvard Health Publications. The book is subtitled “A holistic 10-step approach to preventing and healing heart disease for women.’’

She oversees a study at the MGH Revere HealthCare Center involving “low-income, stress-laden women’’ who come together to share their stories, find friendship and support, and treat their common risk factors for heart disease: depression, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and, Wood notes, lack of self-esteem. The study’s name, HAPPY Heart, includes an acronym for Heart Awareness and Primary Prevention in Your neighborhood.

After graduating from medical school, Wood traveled from rural Texas to Nova Scotia with her then-husband, living among women who did not assert any control over their lives.

“Heart disease strikes many women in depressed areas of rural Nova Scotia where the fishing industry is determined by the weather,’’ she said in an interview. “I saw a common thread with women in Texas. Having good health was low on the list of priorities.’’

Wood wanted to document the link between emotions and physical health. But it was hard to get funding for a whole-life approach, she said.

She participated in public studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in order to develop a track record, Wood said, “then I was able to do my own work with high-risk, low-income women.’’

Wood found an anonymous benefactor who donated $1 million to fund her study.

In “Smart at Heart,’’ Wood writes that there are 10 bridges between the physical heart and the emotional heart. Each chapter deals with one of them. She talks about the “fearless’’ women in the Revere study, including Linda Giordano of Malden.

For Giordano, joining a roomful of strangers to talk about their problems was a new experience. She acknowledged it wasn’t natural for her to reach out for help. She was housebound with severe depression and had no friends. She was obese with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She did not exercise.

But after three years participating in Wood’s HAPPY Heart study, Giordano is voluble, enthusiastic, and filled with energy and hope for the future. She laughs easily and talks about intimate details of her life openly. She is calm and self-assured.

HAPPY Heart involves group discussions, exercise, and personal reflection, or addressing physical problems by tackling emotional ones as well.

Giordano takes free exercise classes, “laughing’’ yoga, and regularly walks along Revere Beach with the other study participants. She has a core group of friends now with whom she shares her daily highs and lows.

“Just as Dorothy always had the power to get back to Kansas within her, they also have the power within themselves to change their lives,’’ Wood writes in “Smart at Heart.’’ “It simply involves making the conscious decision to pull their heads out of the sand, to face the adversities at hand, and to recognize and embrace all the good in their lives. By taking the proper steps, they could go from being hopeless to hopeful, and improved health would likely follow.’’

Wood brought on a life coach, a nutritionist, a health coach, and a group education specialist for the HAPPY Heart study. She monitored the women’s blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, and general condition - factors that are “absolutely important,’’ she says - but also delved into the “psychosocial component’’ of their living situations.

“You’re not going to exercise and eat right if your life is in a shambles,’’ said Wood. “Anxiety is the most common thing’’ she found that permeated the women’s lives.

“You have an emotional heart and a physical heart,’’ said Wood. “The heart responds to emotional stress.’’ For Giordano, that meant being a 24/7 nurse to her mother, arguing with her siblings, and surviving breast cancer.

Wood advises “surrounding yourself with people who have good health habits.’’ She said the social network is crucial. She practices what she preaches. She does yoga, she meditates, “finding that peaceful place’’ most days of the week. She enjoys living in Concord, especially its proximity to Walden Pond.

“The community here is incredible,’’ she said.

And Giordano found a family at HAPPY Heart. “I was one of the first in the group,’’ she said. “I was shy, didn’t mingle. No one did.’’ But she kept going to the weekly meetings where she and the others exercised together and shared their troubles.

“Now it’s great,’’ Giordano said over the phone recently. “We watch out for one another. We are checking on each other’s kids. We stay in a circle of friends. It’s nice.’’

Other participants are from East Boston, Malden, Marblehead, and Revere. They take a Zumba class in Chelsea on Mondays. They don’t bring their children.

Giordano has some problems, but she doesn’t let them get the better of her. Not anymore.

“I’m not everyone’s steppingstone anymore,’’ she said. She also had both knees replaced, and now walks two or three times a day for 5 miles. She gets up at 5:30 a.m. regularly.

“What hurts you is from the inside,’’ said Giordano. “There’s no stopping me now. I was sickly and had nothing to live for. Now there are not enough hours in the day.’’

She hopes the MGH program never stops, Giordano said, “but at least I know what I can do. I want to stay on top of things. I’ve turned my life around.’’