Love your heart

Cathleen Liberty, Webster Health Agent

February begins the start of American Heart Month to raise awareness about heart disease and steps you can take to prevent heart disease. Heart disease remains the number one disease that kills both men and women, but by reducing or eliminating certain risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, excess weight, stress and diabetes can help prevent heart disease. 

Steps to improving your health:

Having a healthy diet is very important to preventing heart disease. Eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish and lean meat is vital to having a healthy heart.

Taking part in regular physical activity such as walking, dancing, gardening, sports and lifting weights are a great way to reduce weight therefore reducing the risk of heart disease and reducing the risk of diabetes if you are at risk.

Smoking is a risk factor that can increase your chances of getting heart disease. Smoking is also very difficult to stop, so talk to your doctor about ways to go about quitting smoking.

Manage your stress through physical exercise which can improve your mood, mental health and prevent heart disease.

Know your body and the signs and symptoms that something may be wrong with your heart.

Remember

It is never too late to begin taking steps to prevent heart disease and have a healthy heart. Heart disease begins in childhood, so by living a healthy life style and eating a healthy diet you are taking control of your health and your life and can be a role model to others.