Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in Tompkins and surrounding counties for five of the last 10 years. Mortality records show heart disease and cancer trading places as the top cause of death nearly every other year in the region.
For men, heart disease accounts for one in four deaths; for women the rate is one in five. About half of those who die suddenly from heart disease had no previous symptoms.
Men and women can do a lot to lower their heart disease risks, improve their cardiovascular well-being and lower their risk of a heart attack or stroke.
While heart disease is most common in older adults, the factors that can lead to heart disease begin decades earlier. Establishing heart healthy habits early in life reduces the risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease, says Lynn Swisher, MD, a cardiologist with the Cayuga Heart and Vascular Center at Cayuga Medical Center. The greatest risks for developing heart disease and stroke are smoking, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, family history (genetics) and abnormal cholesterol. Sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, sleep apnea contribute other risks. Individuals can control or change some risks (smoking, diet, exercise), others will need their doctor’s help and make lifestyle changes, she notes.
Cardiologists recommend several lifestyle changes to optimize your cardiovascular health. High on that list of recommendations are:
Healthy eating habits. No matter your age, you can decrease your risk of heart disease by opting for a healthy, well-balanced diet each day. Choose foods that are low in saturated fat, trans fat and sodium while packing in tons of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish. If you eat meat, select the leanest cuts available to you.
Donna Sandidge, MD, the medical director of the Cayuga Center for Health Living, recommends avoiding bacon, cold cuts and other processed meats and choosing healthy proteins such as fish, poultry, beans, soy and nuts. Use healthy oils (like olive and canola oil) for cooking, on salads and at the table, she says. Drink water, tea or coffee. Go easy on juice. Avoid sugary drinks. Make fresh fruit your regular dessert.
Reduce stress levels. When you are under stress, it causes your heart rate and blood pressure to increase, putting you at risk. Leveraging stress-management techniques such as deep breathing and meditation can help stop damage to your artery walls before it ever starts.
If you feel stressed out much of the time, you should make changes in your life, advises Qutaybeh Maghaydah, MD, FACC, a cardiologist with the Cayuga Heart and Vascular Center at Cayuga Medical Center. Strategies that can help you manage stress include learning relaxation techniques, breathing exercises, and practicing yoga. Lifestyle change can be difficult and the Cayuga Center for Healthy Living can teach you how to manage stress.
Regular exercise. It doesn’t take much time each day to get enough moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity to help your heart. While 30 minutes of brisk walking or swimming and push-ups, squats five times a week is the widely accepted goal, few people start at that level, notes Dr. Sandidge. A daily 10-minute walk around the neighborhood is a good start. Slowly work up to hitting a goal of 150 minutes of exercise each week by incorporating more walking, stairs and muscle-strengthening activities where you can. When you maintain a healthy weight, your risk for heart disease lowers.
Avoid smoking. Over time, smoking contributes to plaque buildup in your arteries and can reduce the flow of blood to your heart.
Smokers are up to four times more likely to have heart disease than nonsmokers. Even smoking in your 20s speeds up developing heart disease. The longer you smoke, the greater your risk of developing cardiac heart disease, says Dr. Swisher. Even smoking one cigarette a day raises the risk for heart disease by about 50 percent and increases the risk of stroke by about 25 percent. If you quit now, within a year, your heart disease risk is half of what it was while you smoked. Within 10-15 years, your heart disease risk is the same as a woman who never smoked.
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For more information on heart disease and prevention, call the Cayuga Heart and Vascular Center at (607) 272-0460 or the Cayuga Center for Healthy Living at (607) 252-3590.
