Taking Your Heart Health To Heart
Courtney Carter
/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2024

Taking Your Heart Health To Heart

Only you can prevent heart disease

Image: The team at SVMC Cardiology celebrates Wear Red Day on February 7.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), one in every five deaths in the U.S. is the result of heart disease. The AHA also notes that unless we change our habits, 60% of Americans will likely be affected by heart disease by 2050.

But the news isn’t all bad. According to the World Heart Federation, 80% of all cardiovascular disease is preventable. In fact, one study found that people who switched to favorable lifestyle habits, such as not smoking, not being obese, engaging in regular physical activity, and eating a healthy diet, lowered their heart disease risk by nearly 50%.

If you’re ready to take charge of your heart health, prioritize these lifestyle changes for the biggest impact:

Eat heart-healthy foods

A heart-healthy diet can help lower your risk of heart disease.  

Heart-healthy items include:

  • High-fiber foods, like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables

  • Foods with healthy unsaturated fats, like avocados, nuts, and fish (like salmon and sardines) 

Foods to avoid or limit include:

  • Saturated fats, including fatty meats (like beef), full-fat dairy products (like whole milk or cheese), and tropical oils (like coconut and palm oil)

  • Added sugars, like sweetened beverages, candy, cereals, and desserts 

  • Processed foods with a lot of sodium (salt), like deli meats and bacon, frozen dinners, and some canned foods

Drink alcohol only in moderation

Drinking too much alcohol can increase your risk of heart disease. If you choose to drink alcohol, drink only in moderation. That means 1 drink or less in a day for women and 2 drinks or less in a day for men.  

Aim for a healthy weight

People who are overweight or have obesity are at an increased risk for heart disease. Losing just 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can help lower your risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and high blood glucose, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. 

Get active

Getting regular physical activity can help prevent heart disease. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week. If you’re new to exercise, begin with short walks and build up your strength and endurance before taking up more vigorous activities like biking, jogging, dancing, swimming, or pickleball.

Quit smoking  

Quitting smoking helps lower your risk of heart disease and heart attack. In fact, within 20 minutes of quitting your heart rate and blood pressure drop. After one year, your risk of heart disease is cut in half.

Manage stress

Stress can lead to health problems like high blood pressure, obesity, and heart disease. By getting stress under control, you can prevent serious health problems. Many things can be done to manage stress, including meditation, yoga, deep breathing, volunteering, spending time with loved ones, and doing something creative. The key is to find the activity that brings you joy and find ways to incorporate it into your daily routine

Get enough sleep

Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Failing to get enough sleep or quality sleep can have a huge impact on your heart health. In fact, one study found that people who regularly get less than six hours of sleep had a 25% greater risk of having poor cardiovascular health. People who slept less than six hours and had sleep apnea experienced a more than 200% greater chance of poor heart health than those who slept longer. 

 

Scott Rogge, MD, FACC, is the Medical Director at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Cardiology

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Home Office How To

Did you know that many sources of chronic pain start in a poorly arranged office? Carpal tunnel, pinched nerves, overuse injuries can often be traced to chairs being positioned improperly or important tools being positioned outside easy reach. While reaching or straining once or twice wouldn't hurt us at all, doing so repeatedly day after day can cause painful and lasting injuries.

As an occupational health physician at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, one of my responsibilities is to help employees of SVMC and other companies who have workplace injuries and recommend the adjustments they should make.

During a spike in work-from-home arrangements, I have heard about friends’ and family members' work-from-home set-ups. Some are working from laptops on their couches. Others are set up at kitchen tables. We know that their cats walk across their keyboards and their kids interrupt. Especially since Governor Scott has just indicated that remote workers will likely be the last to return to the traditional workplace, it's time to get our home office arrangements figured out.

That's why I would like to share the important details you need to arrange a healthful workspace and encourage all to invest the time (and sometimes a little bit of money) needed to implement them. Learning these points is key to avoiding injuries, as continued work-from-home policies, where feasible, will help maintain appropriate distancing needed to decrease the spread of COVID-19.

An adjustable chair is the first and most important component of an office set-up. Office chairs include crucial lumbar support and encourage good posture. When your forearms are resting on your desk or table, adjust the chair height up or down until your arms form a right angle. This is an important step in avoiding wrist pain and carpal tunnel, two of the most common office injuries. If, when your arms are in the correct position, your feet are not touching the floor, employ a footstool.

Position your monitor an arm’s length away. (If you can't see the screen from this distance, better go get an eye exam!) And raise the screen so that the top of the screen is eye level. This, too, will encourage good posture.

If you use two monitors, positioning them properly depends on how you use them. If you use them equally, the dividing line between them should be right in front of you. If you use one primarily and the other secondarily, position the more dominant screen directly in front of you. If you use a laptop, consider investing in a riser and an additional keyboard needed to raise the screen to eye level.

Put all of your other tools, including your mouse and phone, within easy reach. If you use the phone a lot, consider investing in a headset.

The only other recommendation I make is to stretch every 15 – 20 minutes. A list of helpful office-oriented stretches is available here. And every hour, be sure to get up and take a short walk or standing stretch.

If you follow these recommendations at home, you will be much more comfortable and are likely to be more productive, too, all while maintaining the social distance we need to keep COVID-19 infections low throughout this next phase of the pandemic. Most importantly, you will save yourself the pain and discomfort of office injury no matter where you're working.

Mark Zimpfer, MD, is a physician at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center's Occupational Health practice. 

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