Heart health is important; we all know that. A heart attack or a stroke can change someone’s life in an instant. It can even end someone’s life. Maintaining heart health is incredibly important, but so many of us neglect this portion of our lives and end up in poor condition as a result of it. A new study shows that the earlier cardiovascular health is addressed–and it’s never too late to address it, either.
For the purposes of learning more about heart health and the long term impact, a huge survey of more than 3.5 million people was conducted in Korea. Using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 metrics, they found that the higher the score, the better heart health was longer into life. These measures are simple, everyday things that each of us probably are already monitoring to some degree. They include ceasing smoking, acceptable blood sugar levels, acceptable cholesterol levels, keeping a healthy blood pressure, a healthy weight, exercising, and eating right. For the purposes of this study, diet was not observed.
People that met all seven of these criteria were the least likely to suffer from a heart attack–even if they had a poor score on these measures earlier in life. This is good news, because it indicates that even if you are unhealthy or have some bad habits early on in life, you can still improve your odds of having positive heart health.
The population that maintained good heart health throughout their lives were the ones who had the lowest risk of ever suffering a heart attack. This population consistently had the best health outcomes.
This long term study shows just how important heart health is. A lot of the problems that people face when it comes to cardiovascular health could have been avoided if corrective and preventive steps were taken earlier on in life. And with heart disease being the number one killer in the United States, this shows that a lot of the loss that we have experienced could have been prevented. Unfortunately, this is such a widespread problem that it is going to take a lot of work to get there. And a lot more research like this is needed to help establish healthy practices early on in life.
The research was done in Korea and was endorsed by the American Heart Association. The researchers pointed out that because this population consisted of people of Korean heritage, there may be genetic considerations that were not controlled for within the study. Either way, there is a lot to learn about how maintaining heart health throughout your lifetime can help to contribute to better health as you age.
Those that do suffer a heart attack or stroke might require more advanced care as they age. Senior care is an important overall component of health, even if it’s not providing any sort of medical assistance. If you’d like to learn more about how senior care might complement the health issues that a parent is facing, please get in touch. We’d love to help steer you in the right direction.
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