Are You at Risk for Heart Disease? 5 Factors to Watch

There’s a good case to be made for the fact that every month should focus on heart health awareness given how central it is to your overall wellness, but February claims the title of American Heart Month.

With that in mind, the experienced team of healthcare providers here at Midwest Regional Health Services wants to focus on heart disease prevention. The reality is that, for more than a century, heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the United States, despite the fact that 90% of heart disease is preventable.

So, we’re going to focus on the more productive, prevention angle here and review five risk factors to monitor and ways in which we can help you boost your cardiovascular health.

1. Manage your blood pressure

One of the biggest risk factors for heart disease is having high blood pressure (hypertension), and nearly half of adults in the US fit this bill. When you have high blood pressure, the pressure on the walls of your arteries can take its toll over time and make them more narrowed and stiff, which sets the stage for more serious heart disease, such as heart attack, stroke, and heart failure.

2. Watch your cholesterol

Another big contributor to heart disease are high cholesterol levels, which can lead to fatty plaque buildup in your arteries. About 86 million adults in the US have elevated cholesterol levels, including nearly 25 million people who have problematically high cholesterol.

3. Having obesity

Did you know that nearly three-quarters of Americans are either overweight or have obesity? Carrying unhealthy pounds is a fast track to heart disease as obesity is closely linked to hypertension, high cholesterol, and other cardiovascular diseases that are precursors to heart disease.

4. Having diabetes

For the more than 40 million Americans who have diabetes, their heart health is in the line of fire. Not only can higher-than-normal glucose levels in your blood damage your cardiovascular system over time, people with diabetes often have other big risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity.

5. Smoking

If you smoke or vape, your risk for heart disease is much higher than for people who don’t use tobacco and nicotine products.

Taking action to protect your heart health

The good news is that by reading this, you’re already taking a step in the right direction to support your heart health. Beyond awareness, however, there’s much more that you can do, namely:

• Lose weight, if applicable
• Improve your diet
• Exercise more
• Quit smoking, if applicable
• Manage chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension

We know that this list is challenging, but we’re to help every step of the way, providing you with the tools and resources you need to protect your health. 

From devising exercise regimens and nutritional counseling to medications that improve your cardiovascular health and help you lose weight, we’ve got you covered. And we can monitor your progress along the way to make any tweaks as we go.

To get on the road to better heart health, please contact us at 402-745-1145 to schedule a consultation at our offices in Omaha or Gretna, Nebraska, today.