5 Ways to Prevent Heart Disease

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Someone dies of a cardiovascular condition every 33 seconds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The best way to cope with heart disease is to avoid it outright. While it takes lifestyle changes and self-discipline, often in conjunction with medical care, it’s possible to minimize and even reverse the risk posed by heart disease. 

At Advanced Vascular Cardiac & Veins, we’re committed to helping our patients avoid the complications of heart disease. We’ve compiled a list of five ways to prevent heart disease. Use these as a starting point for your own personal strategy to live a heart-healthy life. 

5 ways to prevent heart disease

You can’t avoid every risk factor for heart disease. Age, family history, and gender at birth establish baseline risk levels that can’t be altered. However, you can control lifestyle factors. 

Addressing the five ways we’ve outlined below can help you sidestep these preventable risks. Speak with us about how best to incorporate these changes into your daily life for the best results. 

1. Quit smoking

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of many health issues, including heart disease. Cigarette smoke and the chemicals that enter your body from tobacco-related products damage both the heart and blood vessels. 

The amount of oxygen in your blood falls with the effects of tobacco, so your blood pressure climbs to counteract this effect. High blood pressure is another threat to your heart. When you stop smoking and using other tobacco products, your risk of heart disease falls in as little as 24 hours. 

2. Adopt a heart-healthy diet 

Two delicious ways to ease the risk of heart disease include following the DASH eating plan and/or the Mediterranean diet. Both of these eating strategies emphasize a balanced diet that features fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, lean proteins, low-fat dairy, healthy oils, and whole grains. 

As well, a heart-healthy diet limits things like: 

• High sodium (salt) intake
• Excess refined sugars
• Refined carbohydrates
• Trans fats
• Saturated fats
• Alcohol
• Highly processed foods

Adjusting the foods you eat can protect your heart by lowering your blood pressure and reducing LDL cholesterol, while also avoiding high blood glucose levels that lead to Type 2 diabetes, itself a threat to heart health.

3. Boost activity

There’s no need to invest in a gym membership or develop a complex exercise routine. 

Adding 30 minutes of moderate activity like walking, swimming, or biking, five days a week, adds significant cardiac conditioning. Two 15-minute sessions a day are enough to meet or exceed the 150 minutes-per-week target. 

Adding two or more strength training sessions a week adds further benefits. 

4. Manage your weight

Dietary changes and increased activity go a long way toward lowering or stabilizing your weight. Reducing your body mass index into an optimal range reduces the amount of work your heart needs to do.

5. Rest and stress

Improving your sleep cycle and reducing stress levels in your day-to-day life each contribute to a healthier heart. Quality sleep gives your body a chance to recover and rebuild, while reducing stress limits the negative effects of natural body chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol. 

When you’re already showing signs of heart disease or heart disease risk factors, the team at Advanced Vascular Cardiac & Veins can help you with diagnosis and treatment to make your lifestyle efforts count for more. 

Book an appointment with our nearest Miami office by phone or online. Improved heart health can start as soon as today. Plan your visit now.