February is American Heart Month, which is intended to remind people to focus on improving their cardiovascular health. What are the most effective approaches to prevent cardiovascular disease? Can we atone for our youthful misdeeds by living a healthy lifestyle later in life? What is the greatest remedy for heart disease? This blog offers ideas and inspiration to help you move more and stay heart healthy.

Three Types of Prevention 

According to the American Heart Association’s most recent data, almost 127.9 million Americans aged 20 and up were impacted by cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and hypertension. That figure accounts for roughly half of that age group. CVD has been the leading cause of death among American adults every year since 1910, with the exception of 1918-1920, when there was a global influenza pandemic. To tackle the CVD epidemic, three types of preventative interventions have been developed:

Measures that promote healthy lifestyle behaviors that will prevent risk factors for CVD from ever arising in the first place 

Actions performed to treat existing risk factors, such as raising physical activity levels to reduce recognized CVD risk. Measures that promote healthy living behaviors will help to prevent CVD risk factors from developing factors like type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

measures taken to prevent recurring CVD-related incidents, such as attending programs like cardiac rehabilitation, which are aimed to positively improve lifestyle patterns and lessen the likelihood of experiencing a future heart attack.

The Importance of Starting Early 

It should go without saying that unhealthy habits like smoking, physical inactivity, and a poor diet lead to the development of many CVD risk factors, including obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. Adhering to a healthy lifestyle lessens the possibility of accumulating these risk factors earlier in life and lowers the lifelong risk of heart disease.

Individuals over the age of 50 who have no known risk factors, for example, have a significantly decreased lifetime risk of CVD. Men and women with two or more CVD risk factors face a lifetime risk of 68.9% and 50.2%, respectively. In comparison, men and women without CVD risk factors have a lifetime CVD risk of 5.2% and 8.2%, respectively.

Furthermore, these same researchers indicate that men and women who are risk-factor free by the age of 50 live eight to ten years longer than their age-matched peers who have two or more CVD risk factors. These research findings demonstrate the effectiveness of risk-factor prevention.

It’s Never Too Late to Start Making Positive Changes 

While it would be ideal for everyone to reach age 50 free of CVD risk factors, the more likely scenario is that most people in our society would arrive at that age with a slew of CVD risk factors as a result of poor health decisions made throughout their life. What happens now? Is there a hope for redemption? Next, let’s look at some inspirational ideas that demonstrate that it’s never too late to start.

Eliminate CVD risk factors with the correct amount of exercise: Despite current estimates that more than 40% of American adults are obese, a sizable proportion of these people are metabolically fit. These people are often referred to as “metabolically healthy but having obesity” (MHO), which means that despite their obesity, their blood pressure, blood lipids, and blood glucose profiles are all normal and healthy. Individuals with MHO are more resistant to the negative CVD-related outcomes than those classified as “metabolically abnormal obesity” (MAO), which means they have elevated levels of the aforementioned measures. For example, studies have revealed that those with MHO have a 76% lower risk of CVD death than those with MAO.

The appropriate amount of exercise can assist individuals transition from MAO to MHO by reducing numerous CVD risk factors such as high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipids, and elevated blood glucose. Some of my previous research has shown that a higher volume of personalized exercise is the key to risk-factor elimination, with individuals who exercised approximately five hours per week being nearly 12 times more likely to eliminate CVD risk factors and transition to MHO than those who exercised only one hour per week.

The right amount of exercise can help people move from MAO to MHO by lowering CVD risk factors such high blood pressure, aberrant blood lipids, and elevated blood glucose. Some of my previous research has shown that a higher volume of personalised exercise is the key to risk-factor elimination, with individuals who exercised approximately five hours per week being nearly 12 times more likely to eliminate CVD risk factors and transition to MHO than those who exercised only once a week.

So how crucial is cardiorespiratory fitness for general health? One study found that if we could eliminate low cardiorespiratory fitness in the general population, we could avoid more premature deaths, including those caused by CVD, than if we eliminated traditional risk factors such as obesity, smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes.

Given these fascinating facts, here are a few evidence-based suggestions for increasing cardiorespiratory fitness. Previous ACE-sponsored research has found that tailored exercise programming based on the ACE Integrated Fitness Training® Model consistently increases cardiorespiratory fitness by 15% in most people. Similarly, an ACE-sponsored study found that individualized reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT) improved cardiorespiratory fitness by 12%. More information can be found at the following links:

The improvements observed in this study give significant heart-health protection, as each 10% increase in cardiorespiratory fitness reduces the risk of CVD mortality by 15%. Furthermore, earlier research has connected an increase in cardiorespiratory fitness of roughly 10% to a two-year increase in lifespan.

Developing good habits early in life to prevent risk factors for CVD from emerging in the first place is unquestionably the best method for avoiding heart disease. Nonetheless, it is reassuring to know that it is never too late to increase your cardiorespiratory fitness with planned exercise and healthy lifestyle practices, regardless of age.