A few good choices can help you feel better and stay healthier!
Getting diagnosed with health problems such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol is a wake-up call that it’s time to make major lifestyle changes.
The good news is, a few simple changes can help you avoid such a diagnosis in the first place.
By focusing on seven key health factors and behaviors – what the American Heart Association calls Life’s Simple 7TM – you can keep your heart healthy, lower your risks of heart disease and stroke, and improve your quality of life. This is the first in a series on Life’s Simple 7. The series will cover each one of Life’s Simple 7 keys to prevention with steps you can take to live a healthier lifestyle.
“We’re all born with a large stock of good health; it’s up to us to protect it with good choices about our health,” said Donald M Lloyd-Jones, M.D., professor of Preventive Medicine and Medicine-Cardiology, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
Life’s Simple 7 focuses on the seven factors and behaviors that have the biggest impact on your heart health, both on their own and taken together. They are:
- Get active
- Eat better
- Lose weight/maintain healthy weight
- Control cholesterol
- Manage blood pressure
- Reduce blood sugar
- Stop smoking
Making positive changes in any one of these areas can make a difference in your health, said Dr. Lloyd-Jones, a volunteer with the American Heart Association. And emerging research shows the results are much more dramatic when the seven factors work together.
“Small changes matter,” he said. “If you can lose weight, or maintain a healthy weight, you can reduce your risk of diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.”
Making changes before you develop a chronic condition such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol is critical. While medication may reduce your risk for a heart attack or stroke, it can’t eliminate the risk.
“There’s a price to pay for having developed the condition,” Dr. Lloyd-Jones said. “We can reduce your risk, but we can never restore you to low-risk.”
By focusing on Life’s Simple 7, people may be able increase the number of years they feel healthy, rather than managing chronic disease, Dr. Lloyd-Jones said.
“A stroke can be absolutely devastating and take a toll on a person’s quality of life,” he said. “In addition to avoiding those, we want to preserve a person’s healthy longevity.”
Kevin Coy, MD 