Features Column
Study offers heart-healthy advice for living longer
Checkups, weight management, exercise key to healthy heart
Taking care of your heart is hard. Or it can certainly seem that way. Heart disease remains the number one killer of men and women in the United States. So what can you do to be heart-healthy? Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health have boiled the question down to the three best—and the three worst--things you can do for your heart.
“If you can incorporate these things into your daily life, you’re giving yourself a much better chance to enjoy a long and healthy life, free of heart disease,” says Dr. James Stein, director of preventive cardiology at UW Hospital and Clinics and professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
Let’s start with the bad news. If you’re doing any of the following, you’re increasing your chances of heart disease.
Puffing. If you’re one of the millions of Americans who are still smoking, know this: With every puff, you’re dramatically increasing your chances of suffering a life-threatening heart attack. The chemicals in tobacco smoke raise blood pressure, reduce good cholesterol (HDL) and damage your blood vessels. But if you can find a way to quit and stay away from smoking permanently, you can reduce your risk almost immediately and eliminate tobacco’s negative effects within three years.
Finishing the entire six-pack: Excessive drinking of wine, beer or hard liquor can result in both weight gain and increased blood pressure. And if you’re a chronically heavy drinker, you’re poisoning your heart and risking cardiomyopathy—an enlarged and permanently damaged heart.
Inflating the spare tire. Researchers have recently discovered that belly fat—in other words, a sizable spare tire—is a huge predictor of heart disease risk. In fact, at least one recent study has suggested that for every two inches you add to your gut, your risk of heart disease increases nearly 20 percent.
Now for the positive steps:
Get a risk assessment. Most Americans are dangerously unaware of how much their age, genetics and lifestyle choices affect the health of their heart. UW experts agree that assessing your risk of a heart attack or death is the single most important thing you can do.
Your doctor can help you identify the important numbers—your blood pressure and your cholesterol—and assess your risk. Or you can use the site heartdecision.org launched by Dr. Jon Keevil, a UW medical professor, to do this assessment at home.
Reduce your weight. Notice the distinct absence of the word “diet.” While losing weight is the ultimate goal in terms of keeping your heart healthy, UW experts urge getting there through eating smaller portions of healthy foods, not by experimenting with the latest fad diet or forgoing food altogether.
“The question really comes down to the type and amount of food you’re eating,” says Dr. Matt Wolff, chief of cardiovascular medicine at UW Hospital and Clinics. “Not every diet is designed to help you have a healthy heart. Healthy diets are low in red meat, fried foods and sweets. They emphasize fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grain, fish and poultry.”
Exercise. Outside of eating right, the best way to reduce your weight is getting off the couch and doing something, anything, to stimulate your heart muscle.
“The more you exercise, the better you’ll do,” says Stein. “Find ways to burn energy. Even walking for half an hour three times a week can have a positive effect on your heart’s health.”