Startling statistics show just how dangerous heart disease is:
- One million Americans die of heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disorders every year in the U.S.—that means 2 out of every 5 deaths in the United States or one life every 33 seconds.
- Cardiovascular disease is the #1 health problem in the United States today.
- More than half of all Americans will die from complications of atherosclerosis, the root of cardiovascular disease.
So how can people make sure it doesn’t happen to them? Here are the suggestions from Dr. John Martin:
1. Control the risk factors that you can: Smoking, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Diabetes and Obesity all lead to heart disease and are all things you can control.
2. Exercise regularly: You need to be getting your heart rate up through cardio activity for 30 minutes, at least 3 to 5 times a week.
3. A heart healthy diet: A diet that helps support a healthy heart includes lean meats, vegetables, and low carbs. Vitamins (A,B, C and D) are also a key part to boosting your diet.
4. Find the right preventative strategy for you: Everyone should have a strategy to prevent heart disease, but everyone’s should be different. Whether you’re preventing it by the right diet and exercise or have the disease and are taking steps to prevent it from getting worse. We all have to be focused, from kids to grandparents, on having a heart healthy strategy.
5. Get screening before there is a problem: Early detection is key when it comes to heart disease. Getting screenings before you have any problems could help save your life and prevent you from having a heart attack. Many people screen for cancer just to be safe, Dr. Martin asks, why not do the same for the heart.
John D. Martin, MD, FACS, is the Medical Director of Heart and Vascular Institute at Anne Arundel Medical Center. Under Dr. Martin’s leadership, the Center has become a nationally recognized facility for the treatment of vascular disease. He has made a formidable contribution to our nation’s preventive healthcare movement. In 2000, he along with Louise Hanson, CRNP founded the Dare to C.A.R.E. program that reaches out to the citizens of the community and literally saves lives by offering free cardiovascular disease screenings. Dare to C.A.R.E. screenings are responsible for detecting the early stages of the disease in many unaware citizens. Dr. Martin’s goal is to extend his program across the country and to continue to educate and save lives. To date the program has screened over 28,000 participants.
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