Heart Disease Facts and Prevention

American Heart Month (February) is the perfect time to look over the causes of heart disease, how to prevent heart disease, heart disease statistics, and keeping your heart healthy. Use the three simple steps below to help you keep your heart healthy and avoid heart disease. Your health and wellness depends on it.
3 Tips On How To Lead A Healthier, Heart Conscious Life -
Get Moving! We should always look for wasy to become more flexible, stronger, faster, and to remember the skills with practice. Exercise is so important for heart health. Do something you love to do - walk, jog, bike, dance, do yoga, take a new class at your local gym, join a martial arts school, or start your own exercise group. You should be exercising at least three times a week for about thirty minutes each day.

You Are What You Eat! Take a look around your kitchen and start cleaning out fats, calories, and junk foods. Get rid of those nasty foods that clog your arteries. Add more fruits and vegetables to your daily food intake. You should be eating at least six servings of fruits and vegetables a day. That is about three servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables. It is easier than you think. Add fruits and vegetables with every meal and it is done. For example, eat a banana with your morning cereal, eat salad and an apple with lunch, have carrots for a snack, and have salad or a side of corn for dinner. That's it!
· Take Care of Yourself! Learn CPR and First Aid so you can help others should they have a heart attack. Give a fruit basket as a gift instead of chocolates. Stop eating out or at least cut down on how much you do. The little things really do matter.

We have to keep this in mind because the reality is that heart diseases are the number 1 killer in the United StatesThe Summary Health Statistics for United States adults shows that more than 24 million (or 11% of) Americans are diagnosed with heart disease every year.

 People who do not exercise are twice as likely to have a heart attack, according to The World Heart Federation Fact Sheet of 2002
 The average length of a hospital stay due to heart disease is 4.4 days, according to the 2006 National Hospital Discharge Survey.
 Deaths: The Final Data of 2005 showed that more than 650,000 people died from heart disease.
 According to the American Heart Association the following things will increase your risk of a heart attack: smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, being overweight, and physical inactivity


Keep active, eat smart, and stay safe!!