Heart-Health February

Photos: The foundation for any healthy lifestyle that also helps restore and maintain good heart health is a balanced diet, regardless of age. Adding in regular exercise, even 30 minutes per day, which includes walking, helps lower stress, maintain weight and keep heart attack risk down. Getting a fitness tracker watch helps monitor all your daily activities, steps, calories and more.

If you’re one of the millions of Americans thinking about what you can do for the one you love this Valentine’s Day, don’t overlook yourself. February is National Heart Health month and no better time to enhance your and your family’s awareness about heart disease, the number one killer of both men and women in the U.S.

According to the American Heart and American Stroke Association, heart disease is responsible for roughly one in every three deaths. More of us than ever – about 92.1 million Americans – suffer from cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Mayrene Hernandez, chief medical officer for UnitedHealthcare Florida, shares some simple lifestyle habits that can positively impact overall health for adults of all ages and help you avoid cardiovascular disease and feel better every day, long into the future.

In your 20s & 30s: Focus on eating a heart healthy diet, which is high in fruits and vegetables (4.5 cups per day), fish, whole grains and low-fat dairy and low in sodium, sugar and meat. Eighty-two percent of people, ranging in age from 20-49, rate “poor” on the American Heart Association’s Healthy Diet Score. To be ideal, you should consume four or five of the following quantities each day:

· 4.5 cups of fruit and vegetables per day

· Two 3.5 ounce servings of fish per week (oily is best)

· Less than 1,500 milligrams per day of sodium (check labels)

· Fewer than 450 total sugar/sweet calories per week (approximately one piece of cake or two ½ cup servings of ice cream before any sodas or other sugary treats)

· At least three, one-ounce servings of whole grains per day

· Fewer than two servings per week of processed meats (sausages, lunch meat (all natural is OK), bacon, hot dogs)

· At least four servings nuts, legumes or seeds (one ounce each)

· Less than seven percent total calories from saturated fat (on a 2,000 calorie per day diet that is 140 calories; switch to heart healthy olive, avocado oils instead)

In your 40s - It may be surprising to learn that 73 percent of heart attacks in women, aged 35-44, can be attributed to unhealthy lifestyles. Some of the healthy habits recommended by the Center for Disease Control include:

· Not smoking

· Maintaining a normal Body Mass Index (amount of body fat based on height and weight)

· https://www.cdc.gov/healthywei...

· Being physically active at least 2.5 hours per week (30 minutes per day, five days per week – walking counts!)

· Keeping alcohol consumption down to a maximum of two drinks per day for men and one for women

In Your 50s - Men in their upper 50s are 2.7 times more likely to die from a disease of the circulatory system than men in their upper 40s*. This is the time to recognize heart attack symptoms, particularly if you have a family history and/or are overweight. Not everyone experiences severe chest pain with a heart attack, and symptoms vary by gender.

Ten symptoms to watch for:

1. Pain in the chest (doesn’t always occur when having a heart attack; see other syptoms)

2. Pain elsewhere in the body, typically starting on the left side and the reaching up in to the jaw and neck area

3. Pressure in the chest, like a rubber band tightening around you

4. Indigestion, feeling sick to your stomach or stomach pain

5. Shortness of breath and dizziness

6. Rapid heartbeat or irregular pulse accompanied by weakness, dizziness or shortness of breath

7. Anxiety and sense of foreboding

8. Profuse sweating

9. Grey hue to skin and looking incredibly unwell due to rapid dropping of blood pressure

10. Unusual feelings of tiredness and severe weakness; often common in days leading up to a heart attack, which can also coincide with dizziness and being short of breath

In Your 60s it is time to get your blood pressure checked at a doctor’s visit and then regularly monitor it at home to detect patterns and note any changes. About 64 percent of men and 69 percent of women aged 65-75 have high blood pressure.

For more free healthy and wellness tips, www.uhc.com/health-and-wellness