7 Ways To Live A Long Life

7 Heart-Healthy Behaviors That Could Help You Live Longer

The Huffington Post  |  By Amanda L. Chan Posted: 03/20/2012 8:58 am Updated: 03/20/2012 9:06 am

Despite the fact that we are all generally aware of heart-healthy behaviors — things like not smoking, eating well and exercising — just a little more than 1 percent of the U.S. population abides by the seven key behaviors linked with a longer life, according to a new study.

The study examined the behaviors of 44,959 adults in the U.S. (ages 20 and older) who were part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988 and 1994, 1999 and 2004, and 2005 and 2010, and the NHANES III Linked Mortality File.

The researchers found that just 2 percent of people who were in the study between 1988 and 1994 and 1.2 percent of people in the study between 2005 and 2010 abided by the seven metrics deemed optimal for heart health.

People who did meet all seven of the metrics had a 76 percent decreased risk of dying from something heart-related, and a 51 percent decreased risk of death in general, WebMD reported. This is compared with the risk of death from people who only met one or none of the metrics

“As diabetes, obesity and sedentary lifestyle are on the rise, it is crucial that we establish and reinforce these parameters in every individual,” Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, told Everyday Health.

“With the American Heart Association’s goal to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease by 20 percent by the year 2020, these health metrics are critical in determining the best course of action by both patients and doctors to prevent heart disease,” Steinbaum told Everyday Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease was responsible for nearly one in four deaths in the United States in 2008. The CDC also reported that heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death among American men and women.

In a related editorial also in JAMA, Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, noted that the studies show that “the face of ideal cardiovascular health is a young, educated white woman,” and that as kids grow up many of them may adopt negative lifestyle behaviors that then increase their heart risks.

Lloyd-Jones wrote in the editorial:

Thus, the nature of the problem transcends the health care and public health systems, and solutions must also come through improvements in the built environment and better access to healthy foods and activity, which should reduce alarming disparities in cardiovascular health.

1. Not Smoking

While not entirely surprising, it doesn’t make the message any less important: Smoking kills. The habit is considered the No. 1 cause of preventable death and sickness in the U.S.

Specifically, smoking cigarettes harms the heart in that it damages heart and blood vessel function, thereby upping the risk of atherosclerosis (where your arteries harden), according to the National Institutes of Health.

2. Being Physically Active

Aerobic exercise is good for the heart in that it makes you take in more oxygen, helps you keep to a healthy weight, reduces plaque buildup in the arteries and helps to lower blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults are recommended to get at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week (moderate to intense level), and also do muscle-strengthening at least twice a week.

3. Maintaining Normal Blood Pressure Levels

Blood pressure measurements are written in terms of systolic over diastolic. Systolic pressure is “as the heart beats,” according to the National Institutes of Health, while diastolic pressure is the relaxation of the heart between heartbeats.

A person with a normal blood pressure level has a systolic blood pressure reading of 120 millimeters of mercury or less, and a diastolic blood pressure reading of 80 millimeters of mercury or less.

A person is considered hypertensive (has high blood pressure) when the systolic blood pressure is between 140 and 159, and the diastolic blood pressure is between 90 and 99.

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