Prevention
The more you know about the factors that increase your risk for developing heart disease and the steps you can take toward building a healthier heart - the more you can do to help limit your risk of developing a cardiovascular condition.
Learning stress-reduction techniques, ways to eat well and making other behavioral changes can also help you prevent future problems.
Heart Disease Risk Factors
Heart and vascular disease risk factors are grouped in two categories:
- controllable factors, such as tobacco use, lack of physical activity, and high blood pressure or cholesterol, which are factors that can be changed
- uncontrollable factors are those you cannot change, such as age, gender and family history of heart disease.
Heart Health
Even though you may be at risk for some type of coronary artery disease, there are steps you can take to prevent how rapidly your condition develops. The most important lifestyle habits are not surprising: quitting smoking and exercising regularly. Eating a healthy diet that is low in saturated fats and rich in fruits and vegetables is also advised.
Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital provides wellness and disease prevention programs.
- Leap for Life® utilizes behavior change techniques to achieve better health.
- Community programs such as Caring Hearts® where people who are a year past their own cardiac event volunteer to visit a patient before and after a procedure, offering empathy and support.
- Classes, events and educational programs such as "The Lowdown on High Blood Pressure," aimed at helping you lead a more heart-healthy lifestyle.
