{"id":5306,"date":"2017-02-03T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/?p=5306"},"modified":"2019-05-30T15:15:20","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T19:15:20","slug":"february-is-the-month-for-heart-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=5306","title":{"rendered":"February is the Month For Heart Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Below is an excellent review <\/a>by the Harvard School of Public Health for how to reduce your risk of heart problems.<\/p>\n

When heart experts talk about prevention, they usually refer to one of three types: secondary, primary and primordial prevention. [1]\u00a0All three have similar elements, but different starting times and different effects.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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  1. Secondary prevention.<\/strong> These efforts are started after someone has a heart attack or stroke<\/a>, undergoes angioplasty or bypass surgery, or develops some other form of heart disease. It involves taking medications like aspirin and\/or a cholesterol-lowering statin, quitting smoking and losing weight if needed, exercising more, and following a healthy diet. Although secondary prevention may sound like \u201cclosing the barn door after the horse has gone,\u201d it isn\u2019t. These steps can prevent a second heart attack or stroke, halt the progression of heart disease, and prevent early death. It may be obvious, but the number one killer of individuals who survive a first heart attack is a second heart attack.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Primary prevention.<\/strong> Primary prevention aims to keep an individual at risk of heart disease from having a first heart attack or stroke, needing angioplasty or surgery, or developing some other form of heart disease<\/a>. Primary prevention is usually aimed at people who already have developed cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. As with secondary prevention, primary prevention focuses on controlling these risk factors by making healthy lifestyle changes and, if needed, taking medications. That said, the appearance of worrisome cardiovascular risk factors means that inflammation, atherosclerosis, and\/or endothelial dysfunction are already at work and, in most cases, aren\u2019t reversible.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Primordial prevention.<\/strong> The word \u201cprimordial\u201d means existing from the beginning. Primordial prevention involves working to prevent inflammation, atherosclerosis, and endothelial dysfunction from taking hold, and thus prevent risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excess weight, and ultimately cardiovascular events. Once rarely discussed, primordial prevention is now the cornerstone of the American Heart Association\u2019s definition of ideal heart health and efforts to help people achieve it. [1]\u00a0As its name implies, the sooner you can start practicing primordial prevention\u2014ideally from childhood on\u2014the more likely you are to achieve it and protect yourself from heart disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Steps for the primordial prevention of heart disease<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Four key choices can dramatically reduce your chances of developing cardiovascular risk factors and ultimately heart disease. All four are important. Below, each choice is listed in order of significance to heart health, along with ways to put each into practice.<\/p>\n

    1. Not smoking<\/strong><\/p>\n

    One of the best things you can do for your health is to not use tobacco in any form. Tobacco use is a hard-to-break habit that can slow you down, make you sick, and shorten your life. One way it does this is by contributing to heart disease.<\/p>\n

    In fact, researchers examining the relationship between cigarette smoking and smoking cessation on mortality during a decades-long perspective study of over 100,000 women found that approximately 64% of deaths among current smokers and 28% of deaths among former smokers were attributable to cigarette smoking. [2]<\/p>\n