Heart Disease Prevention

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KEY POINTS

• Heart disease is a leading cause of death for both men and women.
• You can lower your risk of heart disease by exercising, eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking, and reducing stress.
• Exercise according to your healthcare provider's instructions.

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Heart disease decreases the quality of life of millions of Americans and is the leading cause of death for both men and women. These things increase your risk for heart disease:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• High blood glucose (diabetes)
• Being overweight
• Smoking
• Not getting enough exercise

Choosing a healthier lifestyle helps control these risk factors and prevent heart problems. If you already have heart disease, a healthier lifestyle may keep heart problems from returning or getting worse. A healthier lifestyle includes physical activity, eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking, and reducing stress.

Exercise.

Physical activity can help you control your weight. It can also help keep blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood glucose at normal levels. Exercise that increases your breathing and heart rate, such as walking, swimming, or dancing, is very important for keeping your heart and lungs working well. Even when you exercise regularly, having more active time in between exercise will help prevent heart disease.

If you have not been exercising, check with your healthcare provider first and ask for an exercise prescription. Exercise according to your healthcare provider's instructions.

Eat healthy.

Eating fewer calories to lose excess weight helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Getting to a healthier weight also lowers your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. If you have type 2 diabetes, losing excess weight improves blood glucose control. You may even be able to take less diabetes medicine.

Cutting back on salt (sodium) helps lower blood pressure. If you already have heart disease, limiting sodium helps decrease swelling and shortness of breath.

Choosing foods low in total fat, especially saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol helps improve cholesterol levels. It also helps lower your risk of heart attack and stroke.

If you have diabetes, eating fewer refined carbohydrates improves blood glucose control and helps prevent complications of diabetes. Refined carbohydrates are those made from sugar, white flour, white rice, and white potatoes.

Increasing the fiber in your diet helps lower LDL cholesterol level and improves blood glucose control. Good sources are beans, whole grains, bran, brown rice, popcorn, nuts, vegetables, and berries.

Eating more fruits and vegetables helps lower blood pressure. They can replace less healthy foods in your diet, and they add vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

If you want to drink alcohol, ask your healthcare provider how much is safe for you to drink.

Quit smoking.

Smoking narrows the blood vessels that carry blood to your heart muscle. They are more likely to get blocked and cause heart disease. Stopping smoking lowers your risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes complications, lung disease, and certain cancers. Talk to your healthcare provider about ways to quit smoking.

Reduce stress.

Reducing stress can help you have normal blood pressure and heart rate. Take time out for the things you enjoy. Hobbies can be helpful. You might enjoy group activities through your church or gym, or playing cards with friends. Physical exercise, meditation, massage, and relaxation exercises can also help lower stress.

Lifestyle changes can help you take control of your health. Make healthy choices about the foods you eat, regular physical activity, weight, alcohol, and smoking. It helps to try one small change at a time. Don't try to do everything at once. Start with a change that you feel you can do. For example, if you want to eat more vegetables, try adding one serving of a vegetable or a small green salad to one meal a day. Then, once you succeed at that, make another small change.

Talk to your healthcare provider if you have questions or special concerns about your risk for heart disease. Get your blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol levels checked regularly.