How Habits Prevent Heart Disease

February is American Heart Month, dedicated to raising awareness about heart disease and encouraging preventive action. As one of the leading causes of death for both men and women, heart disease significantly impacts individuals and society, with high costs tied to healthcare services, medications, and lost productivity. Fortunately, you can reduce the risk of heart disease by making small changes to daily habits.

Heart disease risk factors include various health conditions, lifestyle habits, age, and family history. While factors like age and family history are beyond your control, you can reduce your risk by focusing on the ones you can manage. This includes making healthier lifestyle choices and effectively managing existing health conditions.

Enhancing heart health begins with daily habits like eating a nutritious diet, staying active, managing stress, getting sufficient sleep, monitoring blood pressure and cholesterol, and inspiring loved ones to embrace a healthy lifestyle. Consider adopting a few of these practices to help prevent and manage heart disease.

Eat Healthy

• Focus on incorporating in your diet a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy protein sources.
  • Substitute wild rice, barley, brown rice, or quinoa for white rice or pasta.
  • Add oats to smoothies, veggie burgers, or meatballs.
• Choose healthy protein options like legumes and nuts, fish and seafood, low-fat or fat-free dairy, lean, unprocessed meat and poultry (if consumed).
  • Snack on crunchy unsalted nuts and seeds, cut-up veggies, fruits that hit the sweet spot, and easy homemade popcorn.

Move

• Aim for 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity or a combination of both each week.

Relax

• Practice meditation, prayer, or deep breathing.
• Spend time outside.
• Listen to music.
• Connect with others by spending time with friends and family, or volunteering in your community.

Sleep

• Make your bedroom cool and dark.
• Limit screen time on phones, tablets, and computers 2 hours before bed
• Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol a few hours before bed.
• Stick to a regular sleep schedule, with the same sleep and wake times even on the weekends.

Know Your Numbers

• Talk to your provider about regular screenings to check your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar based on your family and personal history and individual risk factors.
• Make sure to take your medicines as prescribed.
• Maintain a healthy weight. Reducing weight by just 3-5% can help lower heart disease risks.

Adopting just one of these habits daily can dramatically increase heart health.