Health Tips

Reduce High Cholesterol Risk

With high cholesterol, you can develop fatty deposits in your blood vessels. Eventually, these deposits grow, making it difficult for enough blood to flow through your arteries. Sometimes, those deposits can break suddenly and form a clot that causes a heart attack or stroke. So managing cholesterol is an important part of staying heart healthy.

Stop Smoking

Smoking cigarettes also affects the heart and blood vessels and remains one of the most preventable causes of heart disease. When you smoke, your arteries tighten, which makes your heart work harder. Smoking also can trigger an irregular heart rhythm and raise blood pressure, which are leading causes of stroke. Stopping smoking is the best way to improve your health and reduce risk for heart disease, cancer and other conditions.

Prevent High Blood Pressure

Control your blood pressure. Doctor may recommend more frequent measurements if your blood pressure is higher than normal or you have a history of heart disease. Optimal blood pressure is less than 120 systolic and 80 diastolic, as measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Managing blood pressure is an important part of staying heart healthy.

Manage Diabetes

Keep diabetes under control. If you have diabetes, tight blood sugar control can help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Eat Healthy

Healthy eating is an important part of healthy living. Smart choices and healthy eating can help lower your health risks. Although you might know that eating certain foods can increase your heart disease risk, it’s often tough to change your eating habits. Once you know which foods to eat more of and which foods to limit, you’ll be on your way toward a heart-healthy diet.

Cut the Salt

Eating a lot of sodium can contribute to high blood pressure, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Reducing sodium is an important part of a heart-healthy diet. The American Heart Association recommends that:

• Healthy adults have no more than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium a day (about a teaspoon of salt)
• Most adults ideally have no more than 1,500 mg of sodium a day.

Know Your Numbers

You may have heard that you need to “know your numbers,” which refers to key markers of heart health like blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference. Although doctors test most of these numbers at annual check-ups, it’s important that you know your numbers and understand what they mean. By keeping those numbers within a healthy range, you can greatly improve your heart health and reduce your risk for heart disease.

Get Moving

Exercise helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight and control diabetes, elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Relax

Reduce stress as much as possible. Practice techniques for managing stress, such as muscle relaxation and deep breathing. Too much stress may be harmful to the heart.

Lose Weight

Being overweight increases your risk of heart disease. A BMI of less than 25 and a waist circumference of 35 inches (88.9 centimeters) or less is the goal for preventing and treating heart disease.