Increase Your Chances of Avoiding a Heart Attack: Advice for your loved one in Assisted Living

Increase Your Chances of Avoiding a Heart Attack: Advice for your loved one in Assisted Living

Last month, a report by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology recommended extending statin drugs to a wider pool of people to prevent heart attacks as well as strokes. Previously, a high cholesterol level was the main criterion, but the new guidelines encourage people with normal cholesterol levels but higher risk factors related to age, gender and race to consider the cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The guidelines also promote more traditional preventive measures: 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise four times a week and a diet focused on vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

Reinforcing the need for exercise to prevent heart attacks, new research from the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggests simple activities can reduce the risk of a heart attack (as reported in the online British Journal of Sports Medicine, October 28, 2013). Researchers found that those who were most physically active reduced their risk of heart attack and stroke by 27 percent and decreased their risk of all-cause mortality by 30 percent, when compared with the least active participants in the study.

Preventive Measures Can Help

It may be too late to change lifelong patterns (such as smoking and eating fat-rich foods), but you can still take measures to help your chances of preventing a heart attack.

The general advice for staying healthy also pertains to avoiding a heart attack, whether you are young or old. Controllable heart disease risk factors include high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, diabetes, obesity and smoking.

• Eat a heart-healthy diet with reduced amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol.
• Lose weight.
• Follow your health care provider's recommendations for treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.
• Reduce or stop smoking.
• Exercise moderately and regularly, which will reduce blood pressure and help you lose weight. Consult with your health care provider before beginning a new exercise program.
• Have your blood pressure checked every year. If you have diabetes, heart disease, kidney problems or certain other conditions, your blood pressure may need to be monitored more closely.
• Recheck your cholesterol level every five years, if it’s normal. If you have diabetes, heart disease, kidney problems or certain other conditions, your cholesterol may need to be monitored more closely.

Determining Your Risk for Heart Disease

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute suggests you ask your doctor the following questions to learn more about your risk for heart disease and what to do about it. Be sure to ask what you can do if you are told you are at increased risk or already have a heart problem.

1. What is my risk for heart disease?
2. What is my blood pressure?
3. What are my cholesterol numbers? (These include total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides.)
4. What are my body mass index (BMI) and waist measurement? Do they mean that I need to lose weight for my health?
5. What is my blood sugar level, and does it mean that I'm at risk for diabetes?
6. What other screening tests do I need to help protect my heart?
7. What can you do to help me quit smoking?
8. How much physical activity do I need to help protect my heart?
9. What's a heart healthy eating plan for me?
10. How can I tell if I'm having a heart attack? If I think I'm having one, what should I do?

Sources

“Aging changes in the heart and blood vessels,” Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health.“Aging and Diseases of the Heart,” American Heart Association Cardiology Patient Page.“The Deadly Threat of Silent Heart Attacks,” New Old Age blog, New York Times.“Heart Attack: Myocardial Infarction,” Cedars-Sinai.