Let's Talk About Heart Disease Prevention

There is good关于心脏病的新闻和坏消息 - 所以，让我们先把坏消息赶走。这是美国男女死亡的主要原因，每年与每年四次死亡人员联系在一起。而且，虽然心脏病患者通常不会发展到65岁以后，但最近的研究表明，心脏病发作正在崛起，特别是女性。好消息？根据美国心脏协会的说法，可能会阻止80％的心脏问题案例，你的心脏健康经常在你自己的手中。想要生活一长，更健康的生活？让我们谈谈。

心脏病Prevention

Our Pro Panel

We went to some of the nation's top experts in heart disease to bring you the most up-to-date information possible.

Guy Mintz, M.D.

Director of Cardiovascular Health & Lipidology

Sandra Atlas Bass心脏医院

Manhasset, NY

Michael Goyfman M.D., MPH

Director of Clinical Cardiology

长岛犹太森林山

Queens, NY

Benjamin Hirsh, M.D.

Director of Preventive Cardiology

North Shore University Hospital

Manhasset, NY

Remind Me: What Is Heart Disease, Again?

Let’s not skip a beat—but instead begin with a quick overview. First thing to know? Heart disease is not just one disease. It’s an umbrella term for a range of conditions that can harm the heart. The most common type of heart disease is冠状动脉疾病那or CAD for short. (You might also hear your doc refer to it as coronary heart disease.)

CAD由于动脉墙壁上的胆固醇，脂肪和其他物质（称为斑块）的累积而变硬而狭窄时，您的心动僵硬而狭窄。斑块抑制血液的流动，这可以防止您的心脏获得所需的所有生命氧气。

Other types of heart disease include:

• 高血压，也称为高血压（HBP），使您的心脏更加努力，提高了心力衰竭和中风的风险。

• 心脏病发作那which occurs when a blockage cuts off blood flow to the heart, starving your most important muscle of oxygen and other nutrients.

• 心脏衰竭那a.k.a. congestive heart failure, in which the heart becomes progressively less able to keep up with the body’s demand for oxygen-rich blood.

• Heart valve disorders那which affect the parts of your heart that help regulate blood flow.

• Arrhythmias，另一种心律节奏疾病的另一个伞术语（如atrial fibrillation）破坏您的Ticker正确击败的能力，导致它跳动太快，太慢，或不规律。

• 中风那which is not technically a type of heart disease but is a common result of cardiovascular issues. When blood vessels are blocked, or when a blood clot in the heart is released and travels to the brain, the result is a sudden interruption of the blood and oxygen supply to the brain.

什么导致心脏病？

心脏病有很多causesand risk factors. Some you can’t do anything about. They include:

• Your age.It’s just a fact of life that the older you get, the higher your risk of something going wrong with your ticker.

• 你的遗传学。You inherit genes from your parents that may up your odds of heart disease.

• Your biological sex.雌激素的一生，女性比男性更大，可能会对心脏病的一些保护 - 至少直到绝经年，当雌激素水平下降时。

但是，知识鼓励您对管理风险因素更加警惕您cancontrol, like whether or not you smoke cigarettes or vape, how well you eat and sleep, and if you move your body enough. Keep in mind, too, that addressing one risk factor may also help you tackle one or more others at the same time. For example, if you exercise regularly, you’ll strengthen your heart, and you also may shed some weight, which has its own heart health benefits (we’ll get to that next).

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Is Heart Disease Actually Preventable?

在大多数情况下，是的！（并不是救济学习？）只有上面列出的因素是完全无法控制的。这意味着你在谈到你的Ticker整体福祉时得到了一个大的说法。

And, even if youdohave a predisposition for a specific type of heart disease and its complications, there are often things you can do to halt its progression or even reverse the course of your disease after you’re diagnosed.

预防的第一步是看看你的医生，并学习你的心脏健康状况。现在你可能存在患心脏病的高风险，甚至不知道。为什么？因为虽然我们都希望在身体内部发生不良的东西会宣布大声的钟声和口哨（或者可能只是无可否认的物理线索），可能有些常见的健康问题可以伤害你的心脏，根本没有症状。以下是您的医生会寻找的一些核心条件：## Is Heart Disease Actually Preventable?

在大多数情况下，是的！（并不是救济学习？）只有上面列出的因素是完全无法控制的。这意味着你在谈到你的Ticker整体福祉时得到了一个大的说法。

And, even if youdohave a predisposition for a specific type of heart disease and its complications, there are often things you can do to halt its progression or even reverse the course of your disease after you’re diagnosed.

预防的第一步是看看你的医生，并学习你的心脏健康状况。现在你可能存在患心脏病的高风险，甚至不知道。为什么？因为虽然我们都希望在身体内部发生不良的东西会宣布大声的钟声和口哨（或者可能只是无可否认的物理线索），可能有些常见的健康问题可以伤害你的心脏，根本没有症状。以下是您的医生会寻找的一些核心条件：

High Blood Pressure

High blood pressureis one of those sneaky conditions that fails to announce itself. Often called the “silent killer,” HBP gives no outward clues as it harms your heart and blood vessels, making you increasingly more prone to stroke, heart attack, and heart failure.

如果您最近还没有这样做，则测试血压。根据美国中风协会，正常血压为120/80 mm Hg或以下。高血压是130或更高的收缩压，或80或更高的舒张压，其随着时间的推移。应该指出的是，您的BP被认为是“提升”，当您的收缩压措施最高129时，HBP可能需要处理的第一个信号可能需要处理的问题，即使您的舒张压仍然安全在80或80仍然安全以下）。

If youdo有HBP，你可以做得很多，可以在对你的禁令造成真正伤害之前控制它。这包括：

• 减肥

• 常规运动

• 健康的饮食

However, lifestyle adjustments alone may not be enough. Your doctor may advise you to take medication to lower your blood pressure. These drugs include:

• Diuretics

• Beta blockers

• ACE inhibitors

High Cholesterol

同样的话unhealthy cholesterol levels。You won't know you have it unless you get tested. There are two kinds: “good” HDL” and “bad” LDL cholesterol. If you’ve got too much LDL and not enough HDL you’re at higher risk for heart disease, because unhealthy cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis, the plaque buildup that lead to coronary artery disease.

饮食and exercise can help you better manage your cholesterol levels, but your doctor may decide that you also need medication to keep it in check. These include:

• 他汀类药物

• Ezetimibe

• Bile acid binding resins

• PCSK9 inhibitors

Diabetes

Another huge tip-off to heart disease risk: high blood sugar, also known as blood glucose. Elevated blood sugar is a marker of2型糖尿病那which not only boosts your odds of HBPand高胆固醇;它表现在心脏病的十字丝中。

为什么？Because too much blood sugar damage your vessels along with the nerves that control them and your heart. People with diabetes have up to a four times greater risk of dying of heart disease than people who don’t have diabetes. Keeping your blood sugar in the normal range, or managing your diabetes if you already have the disease, will help you protect your heart. Preventing diabetes, like preventing heart disease, involves:

• Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, dark greens, fiber, and lean meat

• Exercising regularly

• Maintaining a healthy weight

A Family History

Ok, this isn't a condition, but it's crucial to discuss your family’s health history with your doctor. If your brother or father had heart disease before age 55 or your sister or mother before age 65, you may have a higher risk of heart disease yourself.

您还想讨论在您的家庭中运行的特定类型的心脏病风险因素，如HBP和高胆固醇。为什么？您从父母继承的基因可以影响您未来的健康。

例如，即使您是爱好者，您的父母也可能已经传递给您引起家族高胆固醇血症的基因，遗传障碍导致必须用药物管理的高胆固醇。但请记住基因不是alwaysdestiny. If you take excellent care of your heart, you may be able to avoid heart disease.

What Lifestyle Habits Help Prevent Heart Disease?

以下是您的所有事情的长期列表can做保护你的身体最重要的肌肉。根据您当前的习惯和生活方式，可能具有挑战性。但是你心脏健康的奖励 - 以及你的健康总体 - 不能夸大。

戒烟

We know, many of you have tried to snuff out a smoking habit—more than once. Don’t give up! There are many smoking cessation methods out there, so if nicotine gum didn’t work for you, maybe the patch will. Or hypnosis. Or even the prescription drug Chantix.

重要的是要继续为你的心灵和你的生活而战。如果你滑倒，请让它去再试一次新的方法。你可以这样做。如果您需要帮助，请查看美国心脏协会的support page to help you quit smoking。

How, exactly, does smoking hurt you heart? It:

• raises your blood pressure

• lowers your good HDL while raising your bad LDL cholesterol levels

• 损坏你的心脏细胞和血管

• 有助于斑块的积累，您知道可以导致整个级联其他问题，包括心脏病发作和中风

While the number of smokers in the U.S. has dropped over the years, nearly 1 in 6 American adults still lights up. Remember, there’s no safe amount of smoking. But what about e-cigarettes, you ask? The truth is, JUULs, vape pens, and mods haven’t been studied enough yet to fully understand the risks. However, many of the toxic chemicals you inhale when you vape have been linked to heart disease. Follow the AHA’s advice: Do everything in your power toquit vaping那too.

Eat a Heart-Healthy Diet

What you eat无论好坏，对你的心脏产生真正的影响。不健康的饮食可以促进你的血压，血糖和胆固醇，同时扩大腰围。这是心脏病的一种谱系。你最好的赌注？限制以下内容：

• Foods rich in saturated fat那like fatty cuts of beef, lamb pork and other meat, as well as dairy products like butter and cheese

• 反式脂肪发现,食物中如甜甜圈,人造奶油es and spreads, and baked goods like frozen pizza, pie crusts, cakes, cookies, and crackers. (While officially banned by the FDA in 2015, some products have been phased out slowly and may still be available.)

• High sodium foods，喜欢加工的食物和小吃，披萨，罐装主菜，蔬菜和汤。

• Sugary foods那like sodas, desserts, fruit drinks, candy, and many breakfast cereals.

那么，你应该吃什么？你有很多美味的选择。一个人会遵循所谓的地中海饮食，这强调了瘦肉和鱼类，纤维加载的全谷物，水果和蔬菜，豆类等整个食物以及橄榄油等健康脂肪。如果HBP是一个问题，请与您的医生讨论仪表仪（饮食方法以停止高血压）饮食，这侧重于营养丰富的食物，低钠。

Of course, eating right also means eating the rightamount如果您携带额外的磅，则防止体重增加或减肥。毫无疑问，改变饮食习惯将具有挑战性。对于我们中的一些人来说，食物与其他人一样瘾。

Consider finding a registered dietitian/nutritionist who can help you develop a plan and plot healthy eating strategies to reach your goals. Working with a pro (if you can swing it) is 100% great, but if that’s not doable, take baby steps … don’t try to change everything overnight. If you’re a big soda drinker, for instance, set a goal to swap out one can for seltzer for a few days. When that gets easier, up the ante. You can do it—and your heart will thank you.

Exercise Regularly and Often

Working out加强你的心肌，使其能够更有效地工作。它还有助于降低不健康的血压，胆固醇和血糖水平。还有更多：锻炼也可以帮助您努力苗条，带走一些重量在你心中的负担。但是，如果你是五个其他美国人中的四个，你可能不会为每周适度的150人心脏保护时间的建议最少150分钟。

We get it. Fitting 30 minutes of exercise into your busy schedule most days can be a challenge, but did you know that you don’t have to do all your exercise at once? Divide your time into three 10-minute chunks of sweat-inducing, heart-pumping aerobic moves. And you can do any exercise you like: brisk walking, bicycle rides, jogging, jumping jacks, or jumping rope. It all gets the job done. Also important: Get up from your desk or the couch and move around frequently. Extended periods of sitting on your butt have been tied to both heart disease and diabetes.

Lose Weight

If you’re exercising and improving your diet, you’re already on your way to weight loss and a less-taxed heart muscle. Yay! You're also lowering your risk for type 2 diabetes. But what weight-loss goal should you set? Research shows that losing just 5% to 10% of your body weight can lead to big health benefits. If you’re not sure where your weight falls, we can help you figure it out with ourDIY健康计算器。

Other measures, like your waist size, are also important because excess abdominal fat has been linked to heart disease and even heart attack, according to a 2018 study in theJournal of the American Heart Association。Fat in your midsection causes chronic inflammation, leading to rises in your blood pressure and cholesterol. Guys, try to get your waist to 40 inches or less. Ladies, aim for 35 or less.

Prioritize Quality Sleep

如果你经常没有晚安睡眠，那么后果可能比第二天的感觉更迟。随着时间的推移，缺乏zzz有助于肥胖，HBP和糖尿病。

它还会增加患心脏病的危险,因为e long-standing sleep deprivation can up your heart rate, as well as lead to a spike in blood pressure and certain chemicals linked with inflammation, which may put extra strain on your heart.

如果您有一个称为阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的病症，这尤其如此。睡眠呼吸暂停在整个夜晚反复打击你的呼吸，但仅限于通常不会完全唤醒你的短暂的时期。出于这个原因，尽管第二天感到疲倦，你可能会觉得你睡了一夜。

If you always feel tired during the day or your partner complains of your snoring, talk to your doctor about sleep apnea, because it boosts your chances of heart failure, arrhythmia, and stroke. Then ask about doing a sleep study to monitor your breathing in a hospital setting, and about CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) therapy, which can keep you breathing easy—and protect your heart.

Chronic insomnia—difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or both—can also harm your heart. In addition, when you don’t sleep well you tend to make poor food choices and lose your motivation to exercise the next day. If you're struggling with insomnia, bring it up to your doctor. While there are medications that can help, you may also be a good candidate for cognitive-behavioral therapy, which has been shown to be an effective (and drug-free!) treatment.

Limit Alcoholic Beverages

Look, if you enjoy having a beer or cocktail at the end of a long week, keep on imbibing (if you’re otherwise feeling good)! Drinking a single drink per day if you’re a woman and two if you’re a man (because men metabolize alcohol differently than women) is usually perfectly fine. But remember not to pour too generously: One drink equals 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor, like gin or bourbon. When drinking is done in true moderation, we say “Cheers!” to that.

这是你的时候过度饮酒可以直接和间接伤害你的心脏。它可以导致血压尖峰，加上心力衰竭，中风和心房颤动的赔率。过度的酒水也促进了你的甘油三酯，一种在你的血液中发现的脂肪，与心脏病有关。酒精充满了空的卡路里，可以包装不需要的磅，将你的股票式塑造，并使它更加努力。

Let Yourself Relax (Like, Really Relax)

Many of us feel guilty for seeking some downtime to decompress—but regularly unwinding, body and soul, is every bit as essential as other preventive measures when it comes to heart disease. So, take those time-outs!

Experts can’t fully explain why stress and your heart don’t play well together, but there are some pretty strong connections. After all, stress influences many things that are known to be heart disease risk factors. It can trigger inflammation, raise your blood pressure, and affect your cholesterol levels.

Stress also encourages behavior that compromises your heart health. For example, when you’re under too much pressure, you may eat too much, overindulge in alcohol, or light up a cigarette. Your goal: Find ways to curb stress if it’s a constant in your life. Regular exercise, which we talked about above, can help—yoga’s especially good in this regard. You should also try meditation, deep breathing, improving your sleep, and hanging out with friends.

Like we said, there’s很多you can do to prevent heart disease from happening in the first place—and even if you do develop some form of it, you can implement many of these prevention tips to help keep it from getting worse. Your heart is the engine of your body. Keep it in tune and it will help you keep stepping to the beat for years to come.

Meet Our Writer

Matt McMillen

自2002年以来，Matt McMillen一直是自由职业者健康记者。在那个时候，他写了从针灸到Zika病毒的一切。他涵盖了突发的医学新闻和最新的医学研究，概况概述了医疗条件的手工艺品。他的工作出现在线和印刷品，在华盛顿邮政那Webmd杂志那Diabetes Forecast那AARP.那and elsewhere.

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