How to Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease

Three daily habits that change your health

Research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 68th Annual Scientific Session wanted to show how lifestyle factors are important and often overlooked factors (in research) when it comes to preventing heart disease. 

Researchers from Greece studied two lifestyle factors, television watching and eating breakfast. This is what they found about breakfast, screen time and heart health.

Breakfast improves your health

A bigger breakfast is good for your heart health.

In a study of 2,000 adults living in Greece with the average age of 63 years old, showed reduced heart disease in people that eat 20% of their calories at breakfast compared to those who eat less, or no breakfast.

The study shows that 28% of people that skipped breakfast had plaque in their carotid arteries compared to 18% of those that were eating a high-energy breakfast.

More sedentary time increases your risk

Of the 2000 people studied, the ones watching the most TV were twice as likely to have arterial plaque when compared with those people who were watching the least TV. They also found that people who were watching more than 21 hours of TV per week increased their risk of developing of high blood pressure by 70% and diabetes by up to 50% when compared to people who watch 7 hours or less.

You might not watch that much TV, but how many hours do you spend in front of some type of screen? The critical point is the time spent inactive and screen time whether at a monitor, phone or other device is still time spent inactive. Make sure to break up your sitting time with short walk breaks and keep active to reduce your risk.

Alcohol and Blood Pressure

The idea that moderate drinking is heart healthy took another hit this week with research from the Center for Disease Control.

The researchers studied data from 17,059 U.S. adults between 1988 and 1994 and found a link between  alcohol consumption and high blood pressure.

They split the adults into three groups; those that never drink, those that were moderate drinkers, defined as 7-13 drinks per week. Finally, the last group defined as heavy drinkers, having 14 or more drinks per week.

The results

Moderate drinkers were 53% more likely to have hypertension than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers were 69% more likely to have high blood pressure.

Cardiologist, Amer Aladin, MD, and the study’s lead author says, 

“This study is not only large but diverse in terms of race and gender. It’s the first study showing that both heavy and moderate alcohol consumption can increase hypertension.”

Three habits that make a difference

These are three ways that you can change your heart health. 80% of heart disease is preventable and you can make a difference in your heart health today.

Eat a healthy breakfast with 20% of your daily calories. Oatmeal is a great choice.

Don’t just sit there. Get up and move around, start your day with a 30-minute walk and keep moving throughout your day.

Don’t drink every night. Save it for special occasions and stay hydrated throughout the week with water. You will eat less, sleep better and your heart will be healthier.

You don’t have to do everything at once, small steps add up to make a healthy difference.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla