Heart disease heatlh the Hsart. Division Improving heart health Advanced immune defense Disease and Stroke Prevention Stroke High Blood Pressure Improving heart health Million Hearts ® WISEWOMAN Program. People age 40 and older also are given a blood pressure test yearly. Edamame Green tea Garlic. Foods that improve heart health:. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.

Improving heart health -

If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, also called hypertension, your health care team will measure your blood pressure more often to make sure you have the condition under control. Talk with your health care team about how often you should check your blood pressure.

If you have high blood pressure, your health care team might recommend some changes in your lifestyle, such as lowering the sodium in your diet; your doctor may also prescribe medicine to help lower your blood pressure. If you have diabetes, monitor your blood sugar levels carefully.

Talk with your health care team about treatment options. Your doctor may recommend certain lifestyle changes to help keep your blood sugar under control. These actions will help reduce your risk for heart disease.

Never stop taking your medicine without first talking to your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist. You and your health care team can work together to prevent or treat the medical conditions that lead to heart disease.

Discuss your treatment plan regularly, and bring a list of questions to your appointments. Talk with your health care team about how heart disease and mental health disorders are related. Your treatment plan may include medicines or surgery and lifestyle changes to reduce your risk.

Skip directly to site content Skip directly to search. Español Other Languages. Prevent Heart Disease. Minus Related Pages. Share Fact Sheets About Heart Disease Patient Education Handouts.

Choose Healthy Foods and Drinks Choose healthy meals and snacks to help prevent heart disease and its complications. Eating lots of foods high in saturated fat and trans fat may contribute to heart disease. Eating foods high in fiber and low in saturated fats, trans fat, and cholesterol can help prevent high cholesterol.

Limiting salt sodium in your diet can also lower your blood pressure. If you currently smoke, chew tobacco, vape, or use other tobacco products, quit right away — your health care team can help.

If you don't smoke now, keep it that way. Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all. Heavy alcohol use is detrimental to your heart health. Although some research indicates moderate consumption of certain alcoholic beverages may have positive health effects, limiting your intake to a maximum of one drink per day or abstaining from alcohol altogether is best.

Be active. Try to do aerobic exercise for at least 20 to 30 minutes a day, three to five times per week. Work your way up to minutes of cardio each week. Get your heart rate up by a simple activity like walking at a brisk pace.

Your daily movement doesn't need to be overly strenuous. Maintain a healthy weight. Like your checkbook, your weight is a matter of deposits and withdrawals. You need to exercise regularly and lower portion sizes and calorie intake at meals to lose weight or maintain a healthy size.

Simply put, to lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume. Eat a nutritious diet. Healthy and fresh food choices — such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes — lower your risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes, as well as make you feel better than when you eat processed and junk food.

children ages are exposed to secondhand smoke or vaping. Learn how to stop smoking. Most adults need hours of sleep each night. Children require more: hours for ages 5 and younger, including naps; hours for ages ; and hours for ages Adequate sleep promotes healing, improves brain function and reduces the risk for chronic diseases.

Learn how to get adequate sleep. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight has many benefits. Body mass index, a numerical value of your weight in relation to your height, is a useful gauge. Optimal BMI is less than 25, but less than You can calculate it online or consult a health care professional.

Learn to lose or manage weight. Your health care professional can consider non-HDL cholesterol as the preferred number to monitor, rather than total cholesterol, because it can be measured without fasting beforehand and is reliably calculated among all people.

Learn how to control cholesterol. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose or blood sugar that our bodies use as energy.

Over time, high levels of blood sugar can damage your heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.

Improvibg to the Centers for Disease Healtu Improving heart health Prevention CDC Improving heart health, one in Fat burn legs four deaths in the United States is due to heart disease. Gealth continues to be the leading cause of death for both men and women. That's more thanpeople each year. Take time to consider the following information and tips to ensure you're making efforts to keep your heart as healthy as can be. While neglecting the prevention tips poses major risk factors, family history — although uncontrollable — can be problematic. This makes staying on top of heart health increasingly important. Better cardiovascular health helps lower the Improving heart health for Post-workout nutrition for faster recovery disease, stroke and other Improivng health problems. Aim Improvijg an overall healht eating pattern that includes whole Improving heart health, lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, seeds, and cooking in non-tropical oils such as olive and canola. Learn how to eat better. Adults should get 2 ½ hours of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. Kids should have 60 minutes every day, including play and structured activities. Learn how to move more. View or Download Fact Sheet English PDF Spanish PDF.