Your
Heart Health - Get Started Now
Adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle makes a difference,
even if the change does not come until middle age, say researchers in the American
Journal of Medicine.
In fact, people who eat right and exercise more can substantially
reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease and death even if they are in
their 50s or 60s.
Consuming at least five fruits and vegetables daily, exercising
at least 2.5 hours per week, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking
can lessen your chances of heart trouble by 35 percent, and your risk of
dying by 40 percent, compared to people with less healthy lifestyles.
Researchers wanted to test whether or not reaching middle
age makes it too late to adopt healthy habits and improve your health.
"We call this the turning-back-the-clock study," says
lead researcher Dr. Dana E. King.
"We want to emphasize that it's not too late to change,
and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle don't accrue only to people who have
been doing this all along, but you can make changes in your 50s and 60s and
have a healthier, longer life because of it," he says.
Dr. King explains that some people in middle age do not
change, because they think the damage is done.
"In fact, in this study, the chances of dying or having
a heart attack were reduced by a third after just four years of living a
healthy lifestyle," notes Dr. King.
Dr. King collected data on 15,792 men and women ages 45
to 64 who took part in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.
The researchers found that during four years of follow-up,
the benefit of switching to a healthy lifestyle after age 45 became apparent.
In addition, the benefit happened even with modest changes in health habits.
Moreover, a healthy lifestyle was beneficial when compared
with people with three or fewer healthy habits, not just compared to people
with no healthy habits or only one of the healthy habits.
While people with only three healthy habits had lower
mortality, they did not reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease.
Unfortunately, only 8.5 percent of people in the study
practiced these four healthy behaviors, and only 8.4 percent adopted these
lifestyle changes after age 45.
Dr. King says that men, African Americans, those without
a college education, those with lower income, or those with a history of
high blood pressure or diabetes were all less likely to adopt a healthy lifestyle
past age 45.
One expert notes that living healthy reduces your risk
of other diseases, too.
"Most experts agree that a health-promoting lifestyle
- eating well, being active, not smoking - can cut overall risk of heart
disease by 80 percent, cancer risk by 60 percent, and diabetes risk by 90
percent," says Dr. David Katz, at Yale University School of Medicine.
Dr. King shows that it may never be too late to start
over, says Dr. Katz.
"Healthy living is the most powerful medicine of all,” he
says. “It requires no prescription, and all of the side effects are
beneficial, too. It can, admittedly, be tough at times to get there from
here, but it's well worth it, and anytime is a good time to start."
Another expert agrees.
"These are very encouraging results," says
Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc., director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition
Lab at Tufts University.
"They confirm that adopting heart-healthy behaviors, regardless
of age, can lead to clear benefits," says Dr. Lichtenstein.
"Additionally, by identifying individuals who are more
likely to adopt heart-healthy behaviors and who is not, more targeted programs
to help the more unlikely ones to change can be developed," she says.
Always consult your physician for more information.
|
