5 Ways To Make Your Cardiovascular Health A Priority

This article does not constitute medical advice and is for informational purposes only.

Heart disease is known as a “silent” illness, because it often goes undiagnosed and undetected until a person experiences a significant medical event, such as a heart attack. Every year, heart disease causes about 659,000 deaths — or 1 in every 4 deaths — in the United States, and it continues to be the leading cause of death for men, women and for people in most ethnic and racial groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

February is American Heart Month, and it’s a great time to assess your health and take actions that can reduce your risk of heart disease. Here is what you should know to help keep your heart healthy for many years to come.

What Is Heart Disease?

Heart disease is a term for coronary artery disease, which occurs when the major blood vessels that supply the heart with blood become damaged or diseased. But it can also be used to describe a wide variety of conditions including arrhythmia, which affects a normal heartbeat and other diseases that affect the heart muscles, valves and blood vessels.

What Causes Heart Disease?

Coronary artery disease is the most common type of heart disease in the U.S., according to the CDC. For many people, the first time they know they have the condition is when they experience a heart attack.

Heart disease happens when cholesterol deposits and other substances, known as plaque, cause buildup on the artery walls that supply blood to the heart and other arteries. Over time, that plaque buildup can cause the arteries to narrow and become stiffer, causing high blood pressure. When the rough surface of the fatty plaque breaks off, it can cause partial or total blockages in a process known as atherosclerosis.

These blockages can happen to arteries throughout the body, and when it happens in the arteries that supply blood to the heart it can lead to a heart attack. When it happens in the arteries leading to the brain, it can cause a stroke.

Coronary artery disease can cause conditions such as:

Angina: Chest pain that occurs when there’s not enough blood flowing to the heart. This is the most common sign of atherosclerosis, according to the CDC.

Heart attack: Known as a myocardial infarction, a heart attack is a serious condition that happens when the heart muscle is deprived of blood long enough to damage the pumping walls of the heart. According to the CDC, symptoms of a heart attack include:

• Chest pain and discomfort (angina).
• Weakness, light-headedness, nausea (feeling sick to your stomach) or a cold sweat.
• Pain or discomfort in the arms and shoulders.
• Shortness of breath.

Heart failure: This condition affects the heart's ability to pump blood and oxygen to the body’s organs. Heart failure is very serious, but it does not mean the heart has stopped beating. In fact, according to the CDC, 6.2 million people in the U.S. have heart failure. Because heart failure can cause shortness of breath and painful leg swelling, known as edema, it limits a person’s activity and has the potential to shorten a person’s life. Symptoms of heart failure include:

• Shortness of breath that becomes worse when active or while lying flat.
• Swelling of the legs, feet and abdomen, also known as edema.
• Sudden weight gain.
• Fatigue.
• Feeling lightheaded or dizzy.
• Nausea or loss of appetite.

What Are The Risk Factors For Heart Disease?

About 47 percent of Americans have at least one of the three most significant heart disease risk factors, according to the CDC. Risk factors include:

• High blood pressure.
• High cholesterol.
• Smoking cigarettes.
• Diabetes (prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and type 1 diabetes).

A person’s age, family history of heart disease and lifestyle choices can also play a role in their heart health, including:

• Being overweight or obese.
• Lacking physical activity.
• A diet high in saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, salt and sugar.

5 Things You Can Do To Lower Your Risk Of Heart Disease

While certain factors, such as age, a family history of heart disease, genetics and race cannot be changed, there are other risk factors such as smoking, diet, physical activity and high blood pressure that can be managed to lessen the risk for heart disease.

Making healthier choices and living a healthier lifestyle can help keep blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood sugar at normal levels, which can help decrease the risk for heart disease and heart attack, according to the CDC.

Making lifestyle changes is one of the best ways to lower your risk for heart disease. The following are some habits you can incorporate to live a healthier lifestyle.

1. Choose Healthy Food And Drinks

An easy way to help prevent heart disease is by eating a heart-healthy diet. Avoiding processed food and salty snacks and instead choosing fresh fruits and vegetables can make a difference in a person’s diet. Eating foods high in saturated and trans fats may lead to heart disease. To improve your diet consider:

• Eating foods high in fiber and low in saturated and trans fats — often found in processed foods, such as crackers, pizza and margarine — and eating foods low in cholesterol can help prevent high cholesterol.
• Eating meals that include a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Eating whole grains.
• Limiting your sodium (salt) intake can help to lower blood pressure.
• Limiting sugar in your diet can help to lower blood sugar levels, which helps prevent or control diabetes.
• Limiting alcohol intake, which can increase blood pressure. Men should have no more than two drinks per day, and women should have no more than one drink per day, according to the CDC.

2. Maintain A Healthy Weight

People who are overweight or obese are more at risk of heart disease, according to the CDC. Extra weight can cause more stress for the body’s heart and blood vessels. Losing between 3 percent to 5 percent of your total weight can make a positive impact on your health.

3. Exercise Regularly

Adults should get at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate exercise each week, such as bike riding and brisk walking. That 150 minutes weekly breaks down into 20-to-30-minute chunks per day. Children should get at least one hour of exercise each day. Physical activity can help you maintain a healthy weight while lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

4. Quit Smoking

Smokers who quit smoking can significantly lower their risk for heart disease. According to the CDC, smoking can:

• Increase the risk of heart disease by two to four times.
• Damage blood vessels and make them thicken and narrow, causing the heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise; clots can also form.
• Increase the risk of a stroke, which occurs when a clot blocks blood flow to the brain or when a blood vessel around the brain bursts.
• Cause blockages, which reduce blood flow to the legs and skin.

5. Manage Existing Medical Conditions

For people who may have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes, it’s important to continue taking steps to lower their risk for heart disease.

High cholesterol — For adults, your doctor or health care provider should test your blood level of cholesterol every four to six years. If you have high cholesterol or a family history of it, you may need to have your blood tested more often. If you have high cholesterol, there are lifestyle changes — such as those stated above — you can make to reduce your risk of heart disease.

There are also a variety of medications a medical provider may prescribe to help lower or prevent high cholesterol, such as statins — which help lower cholesterol levels in a person’s blood. Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor are statins that may be prescribed depending on your cholesterol numbers, age, family history and other medical conditions.

High blood pressure — Also known as hypertension, high blood pressure usually has no symptoms, so it is worth having it checked regularly. People with high blood pressure will need to get their blood pressure checked more often to make sure it is under control. A medical provider may also prescribe medication to help control your blood pressure.

Diabetes — For people with diabetes, it’s important to carefully monitor your blood sugar levels and talk with your health care provider about treatment options. Your doctor will probably suggest lifestyle changes to help manage blood sugar levels and keep them under control. Diabetes can not only lead to heart disease, but it can also cause other medical conditions including nerve damage and vision loss.

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