By promoting a lifestyle that includes physical activity, healthy eating, being tobacco-free, and in control of blood pressure and blood cholesterol, The Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program and partners are working hard to improve heart health and prevent and reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Indiana. Want to make a difference in your own life, your family or your community? Below are some suggestions on what you can do to help:
- Physical Activity
Staying active and eating healthy food are the two main ways to prevent obesity and reduce the risk of chronic disease. Regular physical activity helps control weight and strengthens muscles, bones, and joints. Good nutrition is vital to good health and is essential for healthy growth and development of children and adolescents.
Regular, daily physical activity can lower the risk of heart disease. Physical activity helps control your weight. It also lowers the chances of getting other conditions that may put a strain on the heart. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
If you haven't been active for a while, you may need to slowly work your way up to these goals. But in general, you should aim for at least:
- 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic exercise, such as walking at a brisk pace.
- 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running.
- Two or more strength training sessions a week.
Even shorter bouts of activity offer heart benefits. So if you can't meet those guidelines, don't give up. Just five minutes of moving can help. Activities such as gardening, housekeeping, taking the stairs and walking the dog all count toward your total. You don't have to exercise hard to benefit. But you can see bigger benefits if you boost the intensity, length and frequency of your workouts.
To view the current national recommendations for physical activity and nutrition, visit Physical Activity Guidelines
Other Helpful Resources:
Active People, Healthy Nation℠ | Active People, Healthy Nation | CDC
Walk. Run. Dance. Play. What's your move? - Move Your Way | odphp.health.gov
- Healthy Eating
A healthy diet can help protect the heart, improve blood pressure and cholesterol, and lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. A heart-healthy eating plan includes:
- Vegetables and fruits.
- Beans or other legumes.
- Lean meats and fish.
- Low-fat or fat-free dairy foods.
- Whole grains.
- Healthy fats such as olive oil and avocado.
Two examples of heart-healthy food plans include the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan and the Mediterranean diet.
Take in less of the following:
- Salt or high-sodium meals.
- Sugar or sweetened beverages.
- Highly refined carbohydrates.
- Alcohol (limit to 1 drink for women and 2 drinks for men or less per day)
- Highly processed food, such as processed meats.
- Saturated fat, which is found in red meat, full-fat dairy products, palm oil and coconut oil.
- Trans fat, which is found in some fried fast food, chips and baked goods.
Learn how to be salt smart (PDF) and find resources to be more healthy when dining out (PDF).
You can also learn how to read nutrition labels and follow serving size recommendations.
More tips for heart healthy eating:
Simple Cooking with Heart | American Heart Association Recipes
- Tobacco
Smoking is a major cause of CVD, causing one in every four deaths from CVD
Smoking can:
- Raise triglycerides (a type of fat in your blood)
- Lower "good" cholesterol (HDL)
- Make blood sticky and more likely to clot, which can block blood flow to the heart and brain
- Damage cells that line the blood vessels
- Increase the buildup of plaque in blood vessels
- Cause thickening and narrowing of blood vessels
Smoking increases the risk of many CVDs including:
- Atherosclerosis
- Coronary heart disease (CHD), including heart attack and sudden cardiac death
- Stroke
- Peripheral arterial disease (PAD)
- Abdominal aortic aneurysm
Estimates show that smoking increases the risk for coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times and for stroke by 2 to 4 times compared to not smoking. Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.
Quitting smoking is one of the most important actions people who smoke can take to reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease and death. This is true for all people who smoke, regardless of age or how long or how much someone has smoked.
For more information about tobacco use and quitting, see:
CDC's Smoking & Tobacco Use website
- Medication Adherence
Taking medication correctly may seem like a simple or personal matter, but non-adherence, or not taking medication as directed, is a complicated and common problem. People do not realize the real damage or effects of non-adherence. When people with chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease do not take medication as directed, the repercussions can be severe. For instance, not keeping blood pressure in check can lead to heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.
Poor medication adherence takes the lives of 125,000 Americans annually, and costs the health care system as much as $300 billion a year in additional medical appointments, emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
Medication Adherence | Million Hearts®
Cardiac Rehabilitation Medication Tracker | American Heart Association
- Alcohol Consumption
Science tells us that it’s best to limit alcohol. The American Heart Association recommends no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women for people who choose to drink alcohol. Generally, one drink equals:
- 12-ounce beer (5% alcohol)
- 8-ounce malt liquor (7% alcohol)
- 5-ounce glass of wine (12% alcohol)
- 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor
Drinking too much alcohol can raise the levels of some fats in the blood, known as triglycerides. A high triglyceride level combined with high LDL (bad) cholesterol or low HDL (good) cholesterol has been associated with fatty buildup in the artery walls. That, in turn, can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Excessive drinking can also lead to high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmia and even death from excessive alcohol intake. And it can interfere with the brain’s communication pathways, affecting the way the brain works.
Binge drinking — having five or more drinks in two hours for men or four or more drinks for women — may put you at higher risk for atrial fibrillation, an irregular or quivering heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke and heart failure.
People are encouraged to consult with a health care professional about recommendations for alcohol consumption, regardless of whether they show clinical signs of atherosclerosis. The possible risks and benefits of alcohol should be evaluated individually. People are not advised to drink wine specifically for health reasons, but if they choose to drink, it should be done in moderation for their overall well-being. Additionally, drinking alcohol every day to excess can lead to serious cardiovascular disease risks, including high blood pressure and stroke. If you find yourself drinking more and more over time, consider cutting back.
Limiting Alcohol to Manage High Blood Pressure | American Heart Association
- Comorbidities
Obesity
Being overweight — especially around the middle of the body — raises the risk of heart disease. Extra weight can lead to conditions that raise the chances of getting heart disease. These conditions include high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
The body mass index (BMI) uses height and weight to find out whether a person is overweight or obese. A BMI of 25 or higher is considered overweight. In general, it's linked with higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
Waist circumference also can be a useful tool to measure how much belly fat you have. The risk of heart disease is higher if the waist measurement is greater than:
- 40 inches (101.6 centimeters, or cm) for men.
- 35 inches (88.9 cm) for women.
Even a small weight loss can be good for you. Reducing weight by just 3% to 5% can help lower certain fats in the blood called triglycerides. It can lower blood sugar, also called glucose. And it can cut the risk of type 2 diabetes. Losing even more helps lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels.
Learn more about managing obesity here.
Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Weight
Healthcare Strategies for Childhood Obesity
Diabetes
Your body needs glucose (sugar) for energy. Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas that helps move glucose from the food you eat to your body's cells for energy. If you have diabetes, your body doesn't make enough insulin, can't use its own insulin as well as it should, or both.
Diabetes causes sugar to build up in the blood. The risk of death from heart disease for adults with diabetes is higher than for adults who do not have diabetes.2 Talk with your doctor about ways to prevent or manage diabetes and control other risk factors.
Manage your ABCs
- A: Get a regular A1C test to measure your average blood sugar over 2 to 3 months. Aim to stay in your target range as much as possible.
- B: Try to keep your blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg (or the target your doctor sets).
- C: Manage your cholesterol levels.
- s: Stop smoking or don't start.
Work with a diabetes care and education specialist for help avoiding health complications such as heart disease. You'll get support and solutions and hear about the latest advances in managing diabetes. Be sure to ask your doctor for a referral if you don't already have a diabetes educator.
Learn more about preventing and managing Diabetes here.
- Family History
When members of a family pass traits from one generation to another through genes, that process is called heredity.
Genetic factors likely play some role in high blood pressure, heart disease, and other related conditions. However, it is also likely that people with a family history of heart disease share common environments and other factors that may increase their risk.
The risk for heart disease can increase even more when heredity combines with unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking cigarettes and eating an unhealthy diet.
Heart disease and stroke can affect anyone, but some groups are more likely to have conditions that increase their risk for cardiovascular disease.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and White people. For Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic people, heart disease is second only to cancer.
More Resources
Heart-Healthy Living - Manage Stress | NHLBI, NIH
Heart-Healthy Living - Get Enough Good-Quality Sleep | NHLBI, NIH