It's not enough to stop eating fried food; you need to change your daily habits to take care of your heart.

Taking care of the heart is important. What rules should be followed to avoid the risk of cardiac arrest and heart attack?

Not only should you take care of your loved ones throughout the year, but you should also take care of your heart. The risk of heart disease is increasing. Many people suffer from heart problems at a young age, not when they get older. Statistics show that most of the deaths that occur every year are caused by heart disease. So it is important to take care of the heart. What rules should be followed to avoid the risk of cardiac arrest and heart attack? Overview Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Take steps today to lower your risk of heart disease.

To help prevent heart disease, you can:

Have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes Smoke Are overweight or obese Don’t get enough physical activity Don’t eat a healthy diet Your age and family history also affect your risk for heart disease. Your risk is higher if:

You’re a woman over age 55 You’re a man over age 45 Your father or brother had heart disease before age 55 Your mother or sister had heart disease before age 65 But the good news is there’s a lot you can do to prevent heart disease.

What Is Heart Disease? When people talk about heart disease, they’re usually talking about coronary heart disease (CHD). It’s also sometimes called coronary artery disease (CAD). This is the most common type of heart disease.

When someone has CHD, the coronary arteries (tubes) that take blood to the heart are narrow or blocked. This happens when cholesterol and fatty material, called plaque, build up inside the arteries.

Several things can lead to plaque building up inside your arteries, including:

Too much cholesterol in the blood High blood pressure Smoking Too much sugar in the blood because of diabetes When plaque blocks an artery, it’s hard for blood to flow to the heart. A blocked artery can cause chest pain or a heart attack. Learn more about CHDThis link is external to health.gov.

Making small modifications to your lifestyle can add up and help you live longer and healthier. A cardiologist offers the simple changes you can incorporate into your daily life to help prevent cardiovascular disease. space-line

Editor’s note: This article was updated from an earlier version posted in August 2019.

A healthy diet and lifestyle are the best recipes to prevent cardiovascular disease. Small changes in your lifestyle can add up and make you live longer and healthier. According to cardiologist Dr. Dean Karalis, whose specialties range from preventive cardiology and clinical cardiology to lipidology and women’s cardiovascular health, many of his patients already know what to do, and making these positive changes doesn’t need to be a grand endeavor.

Dr. Karalis offers seven simple changes you can incorporate into your daily routine to make your heart healthier by the time you’re ready for bed.

1. Eat a well-rounded, balanced diet. A healthy diet consists of eating a variety of foods from all the food groups. The American Heart Association’s healthy diet emphasizes a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, skinless poultry and fish, nuts and legumes, and non-tropical vegetable oils.

“You should limit your intake of saturated and trans-fats, red meats, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages, and refined carbohydrates,” recommends Dr. Karalis. “The American Heart Association recommends counting calories and knowing how many calories you consume in a day. If weight loss is your goal, you need to use up more calories than you take in.”

Eating healthy food is important. Try to eat more protein, carbohydrate, and fiber-rich foods. When you eat is more important than what you eat. Eating time is also important to pay attention to.

2. Regular exercise is very important. Besides keeping weight under control, physical activity also reduces the risk of heart disease. Many people do not have time to exercise separately in their daily busyness. If so, walk more. Instead of sitting in the office all the time, take breaks between work and take a walk. You can use the stairs instead of the elevator.

3. Obesity is one of the causes of heart disease. Excess weight increases the risk of heart attack. Weight control is essential to avoid the risk of many other diseases besides heart disease.

4. Don’t sit for too long. Some jobs are more sedentary than others. If your job doesn’t keep you active on your feet throughout the day, Dr. Karalis recommends making an intentional effort to get up and move to help maintain a healthy weight.

“The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week,” he says. “If you don’t have time during the day to exercise, get up and walk around for at least 10 minutes three times during your workday — and always, always take the stairs.”

5. Brush your teeth every day — and don’t forget to floss. “Inflammation plays a key role in plaque forming in your heart arteries,” explains Dr. Karalis. “Good dental hygiene is a good way to a healthy heart.”

6. Quit smoking and avoid second-hand smoke. This goes for cigarettes and vaping products. “Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor not only for heart disease, but also for stroke, pulmonary disease, and cancer,” says Dr. Karalis.

7. Snack smartly throughout the day. Dr. Karalis recommends a healthy snack in the afternoon to his patients — such as a handful of almonds or walnuts. “Certain fruits like apples, grapes, strawberries, and citrus fruits are rich in pectin, a type of soluble fiber that fills you up and also lowers your cholesterol,” he adds.

8. Get plenty of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get between seven to nine hours of sleep. Dr. Karalis emphasizes not getting enough sleep can make you feel tired during the day and in turn more likely to crave non-healthy foods that can lead to weight gain.

9. Recognize and reduce stress in your life. “Stress can cause high blood pressure, and is linked to cardiovascular disease,” warns Dr. Karalis. Seek out healthy ways to reduce your stress, such as exercise, yoga, meditation, and positive social interaction with friends. Stay mentally healthy. Mental anxiety and depression can lead to serious conditions for the heart. There will be busyness and work pressure. Overthinking it can add to the problem. So try to be worry-free.