7 ways to improve your heart health

If you’re among the millions of Americans who’ve made a Recent Year’s resolution to lose weight, exercise or eat better, here’s one more reason to stick with it: It may protect your heart.

Heart disease is main cause of death in the United States. Habits such as smoking, indigent diet and a sedentary lifestyle can lay the foundations for the disease long before symptoms appear. These habits “won’t kill you the next day,” but they may determine how well you live in the final decades of your life, said Dr. Kyla Lara-Breitinger, a cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“If you say you will hike the Dolomites in retirement, what are you doing now to prepare?” she said.

First, consider where you are.

Doctors can exploit your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels to predict your risk of heart disease and suggest possible treatments. So start by visiting your primary care doctor to check your results, says Dr. Sadiya Khan, a preventive cardiologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

A visit to your primary care doctor is also an opportunity to discuss your health goals. You can discuss what might be getting in the way of meeting them and chart a path for change.

“If you’re trying to do everything at once, it can seem overwhelming,” Dr. Khan said. However, you can talk to your doctor about starting with what’s easiest or what changes would make the most difference.

If you smoke, try to quit.

Smoking is responsible for approx one third of all deaths are related to heart diseaseaccording to the American Heart Association. Smoking causes inflammation, increases plaque build-up and increases the likelihood of plaque breaking down and forming blood clots, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. E-cigarettes and vape pens also contain nicotine and other substances that are harmful to heart health.

Evidence suggests that a combination of medication and counseling is one of the most effective ways to lend a hand smokers quit. The North American Consortium to Quit Smoking can lend a hand you find resources in your state.

Don’t underestimate the power of stairs.

Dr. Khan’s top tip for quitting smoking patients is to find out how many flights of stairs they can climb without getting out of breath, and then build on that.

Regular exercise strengthens the heart muscle and makes the body absorb oxygen from the blood more effectively. It also lowers blood pressure and glucose levels and helps reduce excess body fat, which can lead to insulin resistance and other metabolic disorders.

The American Heart Association recommends that adults get 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, but not everyone has 30 minutes a day to hop on the treadmill or do a high-intensity workout, says Dr. Lara-Breitinger. This is where miniature goals and miniature bursts of exercise can come into play.

If you work from home, for example, try taking breaks between meetings to do lunges or run up the stairs. When they sit down to look at photos of patients, Dr. Lara-Breitinger and her staff try to stand up and do 20 repetitions of something – push-ups, squats or lunges – every hour if possible.

For some people, tracking steps, calories and blood glucose using digital devices can be “extremely motivating,” Dr. Khan said, helping them monitor their progress and feel a sense of achievement when they reach a certain goal.

Stick to the perimeter of the grocery store.

Doctors recommend following a plant-based diet with plenty of whole grains, lean protein, and fresh fruits and vegetables, which can usually be found on the outside shelves of grocery stores. The DASH diet has been shown to be particularly effective for people with high blood pressure, and decades of research support the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. In both cases, the emphasis is on unsaturated fats, such as those found in olive oil and nuts, rather than saturated fats, which are typically found in foods such as red meat. Both diets can lend a hand lower LDL cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the “bad” type that can lead to the formation of plaque in the arteries.

If you currently eat a lot of red meat, start by replacing several dinners a week with a plant-based meal or lean poultry or fish, advises Dr. Lara-Breitinger.

Replacing ultra-processed foods – the packaged goods often found on the middle shelves of grocery stores – with less processed foods may also reduce the likelihood of development of metabolic diseases such as obesity or diabetesthat escalate the risk of heart disease.

Rest is the priority.

Dr. Lara-Breitinger says getting a good night’s sleep of seven to nine hours a day is imperative for good heart health and a better metabolism.

Lack of sleep increases stress hormones, causing inflammation that can lead to plaque buildup in the arteries. It can disrupt your circadian rhythm and disturb your metabolism, leading to weight gain. insulin resistance and ultimately type 2 diabetes, Dr. Lara-Breitinger said.

Many things can interfere with a good night’s sleep, but as best as you can, try to stick to a daily sleep routine, avoid caffeine at the end of the day, and schedule some screen-free time to wind down before going to bed.

Stay away from alcohol.

Alcohol consumption increases your overall caloric intake and can elevate your levels certain fats called triglycerideswhich in enormous quantities are associated with the accumulation of fat on the walls of arteries. Excessive drinking can also cause high blood pressure, arrhythmias and heart failure, says Dr. Jennifer Haythe, a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

“Alcohol is actually a heart toxin,” Dr. Haythe said. He encourages his patients to abstain or significantly reduce their alcohol consumption, limiting their drinking to, for example, one night a week. He recommends that heart failure patients stop drinking completely.

Remember that heart disease is the leading killer of men AND women.

Dr. Haythe, who specializes in advanced heart failure, women’s cardiovascular disease and cardio-obstetrics, said it’s especially critical for women in their 20s, 30s and 40s to pay attention to their heart health.

Women have many risk factors that men do not have, she added. Early menopause (before age 40) and breast cancer treatment can escalate the risk of heart disease, as can autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, which disproportionately affect women.

Pregnancy-related conditions also affect the heart. During pregnancy, blood volume increases and the heart must pump harder and faster than usual. Some women may not tolerate such stress and develop gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and even heart failure, which, although momentary, indicate an increased risk of heart disease later in life, says Dr. Haythe.

“It is critical that women do not postpone all medical care,” she said.