Heart Health fo a Lifetime
Small choices you make today can reap big rewards
down the road. February is American Heart Month,
but here's how you can celebrate heart health all
year long — and for many years to come.
+ Establish a medical
home. Develop a
relationship with a
primary care physician
and start scheduling
yearly wellness visits.
+ Ditch the smokes for
good. The sooner you kick
that bad college habit, the
better. Within one year
of quitting, your risk of
coronary heart disease will
drop by half. By the time
you reach your 40s, your
risk will be the same as if
you had never smoked.
+ Practice active parenting. Get
off the playground bench for a
few rounds of tag. Help your son
hone his dribbling skills with some
one-on-one basketball. Volunteer to
coach your daughter's soccer team.
Find ways to make your kids' active
lifestyles your own.
+ Keep track of your numbers.
From career changes to growing
children, your 30s are anything
but routine. It's easy to let your
annual wellness visits fall by the
wayside, but it is more important
now than ever to stay on top of your
health numbers and understand
what they mean. (Check the next
page for a list of numbers you
should know.)
Despite heart disease causing more deaths every year than any
other disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, it's often the last thing on our minds. "I'll get serious
about my heart when I turn 40," we tell ourselves. Then 40 turns
into 50, 50 turns into 60, and before you know it, you've been
diagnosed with heart disease. Instead of procrastinating, why
not start making small changes now? Find out which simple
steps you can take to avoid a critical situation later in life.
Make
it
count
by
investing
in
a
fi
tness
tracker.
In
a
study
published
in
September
2015,
women
who
used
mobile
fi
tness
trackers
clocked
an
additional
38
minutes
of
activity
per
week.
20
30
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