5 Ways to Improve Your Heart Health in 2025

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States and has been since 1950. Make 2025 the year you improve your heart health.

Here are five steps to start improving your heart health now!

1.) Routine Exercise

The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of aerobic exercise weekly. This can be as simple as walking 30 minutes daily. Incorporating strength or resistance training at least two days per week can not only help you achieve your activity goals, but helps your muscle and bones remain strong as you age. Find an activity that you love and make movement a priority!

2.) Healthy Diet

There are an overwhelming number of diets that are said to be "best" for fat burning or weight loss. How do you know which is best for you? In general, the best approach for following a heart healthy diet is:

• Avoiding highly processed or ultra processed foods (i.e : fast foods, chips, cookies, frozen meals, hot dogs etc.)
• Eating nutrient dense foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats like avocados, and lean proteins such as chicken, turkey, or fish
• Avoid or limit sugary drinks and alcohol

3.) Quit Smoking

Smoking is not only a leading cause of lung cancer, but is responsible for one in four deaths related to cardiovascular disease. Smoking cigarettes can cause permanent damage to the blood vessels not only in your heart, but throughout your body. This can increase your blood pressure, heart rates, cause scarring of the heart muscle, and reduce blood flow in the arteries throughout your body. Need help quitting? Talk to your health care provider about ways they can help you quit.

4.) Routine Screening

Risk factors for cardiovascular disease broken down into two categories; modifiable and non-modifiable. Non-modifiable risk factors are the ones you cannot change or control such as age, race, gender, or genetics.

Fortunately, there are a handful of modifiable risk factors that you can control that will help reduce your cardiovascular risk. So what can you control to reduce your risk? Blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, diet, exercise, and quitting smoking.

The easiest way to ensure these are all being controlled is with routine screening with your primary care provider. In addition, there may be tests that can be done to help assess your 10 year risk of heart disease such as coronary calcium scoring or screening for carotid disease.

5.) Get Good Sleep

Good sleep is beneficial to your heart as it allows your body an opportunity to repair and rest. Sleeping helps your blood pressure and heart rate to drop, reduce inflammation, can help maintain or manage weight, and improve your mental health. All of these factors can, in turn, affect your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Help yourself get a good night's sleep by creating a relaxing bedtime routine. Avoid screen time, caffeine and alcohol, or eating close to bedtime. Try your best to maintain a consistent sleep-wake schedule and stick to it.

Still unable to get good sleep? Talk to your health care provider about ways to promote healthy sleep patterns and ensure there are no other underlying factors contributing to poor sleep such as sleep apnea.

Following these five tips to improve your heart health can not only help you to lead a healthy lifestyle, but reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease moving forward. CHI Health is committed to helping you know your risk and improve your health moving forward!

Resources:

www.americanheartassociation.org

www.cdc.gov