The American Heart Association (AMA) calls them “The Simple 7″.  Seven things you can do to reduce your chances of dying of heart disease, stroke, or other cardiac related incident.  Take it slow – start with 1 or 2.  Even small changes in lifestyle can make a big difference.

7 Steps to a Long and Healthy Life

Get Active- The AMA suggests at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise – or a combination of both.  When you break it down, that is only about 22 minutes per day of moderate exercise.  The simplest solution is to start walking.  Join AMA’s Start Walking Program to develop your walking plan.  If you are mobility-challenged or just not the outdoorsy type, there are plenty of great ways to get your heart pumping at home. 

Browse Allegro’s Fitness category for hundreds of Exercise/Fitness Products to fit any level of fitness or ability.   Sorted into helpful sub-categories.  Get instruction from books, DVDs and videos to make your home workouts even more fun!

Control Cholesterol- Cholesterol is in your bloodstream and your cells.  It is soft and waxy.  Too much of the ‘bad’ cholesterol, the LDL, is a bad thing.  It clogs arteries and puts you at major risk for coronary disease.  75% of cholesterol is produced by the body and the rest comes from the foods you eat.  Many people inherit the genes that make too much cholesterol so you might not be able to control it without medication. 

The AMA says “It’s important for all people to know their cholesterol level.”  Cholesterol is measured in milligrams per deciliter of blood.  A cholesterol level of 200mg/dL or higher puts you in a high risk category and you need to take action. 

Monitor your cholesterol at home with the  CholesTrak – FDA approved Total Cholesterol Device.

Cholesterol can be controlled by prescribed medication, diet and/or lifestyle changes.  The AME recommends you schedule a screening, eat foods low in cholesterol and saturated fat, skip the trans fats, maintain a healthy weight and stay active.

See all Home Test Kits

Eat Better- If you haven’t heard it already, you must be living under a rock.  Stop with the fast food, trans-fat laden crap and get healthy.  Eat a diet of vegetables, fruits, unrefined whole-grains, fish (at least twice a week), lean meats, poultry (without skin), fat-free/low fat dairy.  Aim for less than 1500 mgs of salt per day and less than 300 mgs of cholesterol.  Stay away from foods with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.  If you do all this, you’ll be fine.

Maybe.

Even your best intentions may need a little supplemental help from time to time. See Allegro’s large selection of Vitamins and Herbal Supplements.  I take a multi-vitamin, glucosamine and an Omega-3 tablet every day.

See all Dietary Supplements

Manage Blood Pressure – The AMA says that high blood pressure is the single most significant risk factor for heart disease.  The scary thing is, you can’t feel high blood pressure.  That’s why they call it “the silent killer”.    Blood pressure is exactly that – the pressure of your blood on your veins.  If it gets too high, over time it will stretch your veins and cause microscopic tears.  When the body heals these tears it creates scar tissue which can form clots, blockages, blood clots and weakened arteries leading to stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and heart failure. 

Normal blood pressure is less than 120 mm Hg systolic AND less than 80 mm Hg diastolic.  High blood pressure (hypertension) is a reading of more than 140 over 80 (140/80).

Another scary fact about blood pressure:  One in three adults have it, yet 21% don’t even know it.  And of those with high blood pressure, 69% are receiving treatment, yet, only 45% have it controlled.   Having your blood pressure checked only once in a while is dangerous.  It took years to diagnose my high blood pressure because it was only tested periodically. 

Take your own blood pressure.  It’s easy! - I highly recommend the wrist models.

See all Blood Pressure Monitors

See all Diagnostic Products

If you have high blood pressure, please read I’m off my Blood Pressure Meds.   By the way, I am still monitoring my blood pressure at home and it remains normal without medication.  I still see my chiropractor about 3 times a month and check in with my physician every 4 months.

Lose Weight – Are you overweight/obese?  If your body mass index (BMI) is 25.0 kg/m2 or higher, then you are among the 145 million overweight or obese Americans.  Calculate your BMI by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703, then dividing that number by your height in inches and then dividing again by your height in inches.

Reduce your risk for heart disease by losing weight and keeping it off.   My approach to weight loss is summed up in How to Not Gain Weight in 65 Days or Less and The Secret to Making Resolutions Work.

See Weight Loss Products  Please be careful if you use synthetic weight loss supplements!  Consult your physician.  My body prefers all-natural foods and supplements.  See FucoTHIN.   For tried and true weight-loss advice, read Eating for Life by Bill Phillips.

Obesity is a major, independent risk factor for heart disease.  And if you have a lot of belly fat you’re at even higher risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.  Get rid of it.

 Reduce Blood Sugar – Diabetes is controllable and treatable, but even so, adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or stroke than adults without diabetes.  

The AMA says that controlling glucose levels can slow the progression of long-term complications. Often, many small changes add up to surprising improvements in diabetes control, including less need for medication.

What is Diabetes?

 How to Tell if you have Diabetes

Diagnosed Diabetic?  See our Diabetes Care Medical Supplies

Stop Smoking - Smoking is the most preventable cause of premature death in the U.S.  It increases the risk of heart disease, decreases your tolerance or physical activity, increases the tendency for blood to clot.  It decreases HDL (good) cholesterol.  It creates a higher risk for peripheral artery disease and aortic aneurysms.  Ick.

Quiting cigarettes is hard, even for adolescents.  How do you do it?  Here’s a 5-Step Process to Stop Smoking.  Don’t feel bad if you slip.  It’s very common.  Just try again… and again… until it works.  Don’t give up.  Look to your local resources through hospitals and hotlines for help.

Education Center for Heart Smarts

Are you a rehab specialist or physical/personal trainer?  Learn more about cardiac health and rehab, see The ABCDE’S of Cardiac Rehabilitation, Yoga for Cardiac Rehab, Cardiovascular Disease and Women, Heathy Hearts, Healthy Women and Major Cardiac Risk Factor Screening.

See all Healthy Learning books, CDs and DVDs

Anyone can learn more about health, nutrition and fitness with the Health & Fitness in Plain English book.

How prevalent are heart problems? Read Staggering Heart Facts. 

Are you at Risk for Heart Disease? 

Did you know that heart attack and stroke symptoms for men and women may differ? Read Heart Attacke & Stroke Warning Signs.

We hope you will take this to heart and make the changes in your life that will see you through a long, healthy life.   Read more about the  The Simple 7 on the American Heart Association’s website.

And as always, we thank you for your business – from the bottom of our hearts. (sorry, had to).

Have you ever wanted to know how many steps you take everyday? Clip a pedometer on your belt loop! Following a low-carb regimen? Keep your fat metabolism in check with ketone test strips.

See All Home Test Kits including drug tests and cholesterol checks.

One of the neatest gadgets to come along are the body fat analyzers and body composition scales. You just hold them, or stand on them and they send a harmless beam through you to see how much fat you have going on. Some of them even calculate your water and muscle percentages too.

See All Body Fat Analyzers and All Scales

Outside of the wide selection of blood pressure monitors and thermometers to help keep you healthy we also have some really neat ways to monitor your heart rate during exercise (or whatever)… I wear one to make sure I’m staying within a good heart rate zone while I’m hiking or doing cardio. It helps tell me whether I’m working too hard, or not hard enough.

See All Heart Rate Monitors

How about an Eye Chart or a Color Blindness Test?

And if you’re wondering what else you can possibly monitor, see All Diagnostic Products. Happy shopping!

If you don’t know what your blood pressure is, it’s important to have it checked periodically because you won’t be able to “feel” that it is high.  That’s why it is often called the ’silent killer’.  You don’t even know you’re headed toward heart attack or stroke.  

High blood pressure is most common in adults over 35 and is prevalent in African Ameriancs, middle-aged and elderly people, obese people, heavy drinkers and women on birth control pills.

An easy way to monitor your blood pressure is with a home monitoring device.  These are not designed to replace those doctor’s visits, but to merely supplement them.  Blood pressure monitirs are inexpensive and easy to use.   I highly recommend you take yours into your doctor’s office to make sure it is properly calibrated when compared to theirs. 

Best Home Blood Pressure Monitors

 Portable Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor- This is my favorite.  It’s automatic, digital and super easy to use.  I had it checked against the one at the doctor’s office and it is accurate.   Very affordable.

See More Blood Pressure Wrist Monitors. 

 Premium Talking Digital Blood Pressure Monitor - This bi-lingual (Spanish & English) cutie sports a large LCD screen so you can hear AND see your systolic, diastolic and pulse readings simultaneously.  It even provides irregular hearbeat detection.

See All Talking Blood Pressure Monitors

Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor with ComFit Cuff – This one has an impressive list of features.  Clinically proven accuracy. Personalized inflation technology. 90 memory recall with date and time. Storage case.  Large LCD panel. AC adapter & batteries included.  5 year warranty.  Very nice.

See All Automatic Blood Pressure Monitors

 Pro’s Combo II Kit – Comes with a color coordinated, calibrated cuff and a Sprague-Rappaport type stethoscope.  Can be used on adults, children and infants.  You need to have training to use this one, though!!  It’s a professional unit.

See some more Professional Sphygmomanometers

To see everything in one spot, check out our special High Blood Pressure Products section in our Shop By Condition area.  

For more on blood pressure, read “I’m off my Blood Pressure Meds” and “Staggering Heart Facts“.  But first, buy a home BP monitor!! 

Thanks for your business.  We love it when you take care of yourself.

A couple weeks ago I had just popped the pill when it struck me that I hadn’t checked my BP in a while.  I took it and it was 91/59.  Woah!  Yikes!  I called my doc and got an appointment for a couple days later, and in the meantime I was told to monitor it and not take the medication if it was too low.  It was mostly normal-to-low the next day.  The night before my appointment it was running really, really low – like 87/54.  Freaked me out a little. 

At the doctor’s office, they took my blood pressure while I was lying down, standing up, sitting up – about 3 times and confirmed it was running normal-to-low.  I showed them the readings from my home wrist monitor which keeps results in its memory.  They were amazed at the readings and said I was officially off the Diovan but I needed to keep an eye on it and see them in a month.   I was totally excited (don’t get too excited, Valerie), but danged if I know what caused the change. 

Four years ago, my blood pressure was consistently in the 160s, 170s and over 90s and 100s.  It was kindof a fluke that we discovered this so I suggest that if you don’t have yours checked regularly, no matter how old you are, you at least get an inexpensive home unit.  I was 42 years old and in good shape.  No family history.  No signs of a problem.  As is my nature, I fought against traditional BP medication and my doc tried salt pills and beta blockers instead – but they weren’t working.  Then, I had to go into the hospital for an unrelated outpatient surgery and my BP clocked in at 207/107 so they had to admit me.  They put me in the telemetry wing to monitor my heart and after a bunch of tests they couldn’t find any reason for such high blood pressure.  So they brought it down with strong drugs, did my surgery and released me with an Rx for Diovan. 

My doctor said it’s called essential or primary hypertension when the they are unable to find a specific cause.  She said it was probably stress and reminded me of my “extreme lifestyle”.  

I pulled out the big guns and resolved to lower my stress.  To see what I did, read 15 Stress Tips that Could Save Your Life.

The only other thing that might be helping are my spinal adjustments.  In fact, my chiropractor, Dr. Mike, is taking full credit for lowering my blood pressure.  At first I just laughed, thinking he wasn’t serious, but he was dead serious.  

I started seeing him to help ease occasional spasms in my back.  No more than 8 treatments later, I’m off my blood pressure meds.  Coincidence?  Maybe, but honestly it is the only really significant change I’ve made in my life recently.  His name is Dr. Mike Henriksen, Spinal Correctionn Center, tel. 480-460-1177. 

He said that lower blood pressure due to his treatments are not uncommon. It has to do with my atlas bone (1st cervical vertabrae) coming into alignment.  In fact, he’s helped people get off all kinds of medications.  I’m sure if you called his office he, or his assistant Kathy, would be happy to explain.  He uses his patented Turbo Drop Table to make the adjustments and doesn’t “crack” your back or neck (he says crack kills).  Dr. Mike is world-renowned and trains chiropractors all over the world so maybe one of his trainees is near you.  Plus, he’s a really nice guy.

But I digress.

All I know is that I must be doing something right.  Whether it’s the yoga, the hiking, the multi-vitamins, the spinal adjustments or the happy, healthy life I’m leading, I can’t say.   Perhaps it is the alien visit I had last month . . . kidding . . .

I’ll be writing a series of stress-relief blogs over the next week, so if you want to take control of your stress - stay tuned!  Don’t know if you’re stressed?  Take the Stress Test.

Did you know?

*  Nearly 2,400 Americans die of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) each day, an average of one death every 37 seconds.

*  Preliminary mortality data for 2006 show that CVD accounted for 34.2% of all 2,425,900 deaths in 2006, or 1 of every 2.9 deaths in the United States.

*  Good news:  From 1995 to 2005, death rates from CVD declined by 26.4%.

* Cardiovascular disease claims about as many lives each year as cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents and diabetes mellitus combined.

*  Half of adults 50 and younger with low 10-year risk of  CVD have high lifetime risk (News Release Jan. 13, 2009).

*  One in three female adults has some form of cardiovascular disease.

*  Since 1984, the number of CVD deaths for females has exceeded those for males.

*  In 2005, CVD was the first listed diagnosis of 3,023,000 females discharged from short-stay hospitals.  Discharges include people both alive, dead or of unknown status.

*  More than 150,000 Americans killed by CVD in 2005 were less than 65 years of age.

*  In 2009, an estimated 785,000 Americans will have a new coronary attack, and about 470,000 will have a recurrent attack.  It is estimated that an additional 195,000 silent first myocardial infarctions occur each year.

*  Each year, about 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke.  On average, every 40 seconds someone in the US has a stroke.  Good news: From 1995 to 2005, the stroke death rate fell 29.7% and the actual number of stroke deaths declined 13.5%.

Yikes!!

Are you at risk for heart disease?  Do you know what to do in the event of a heart attack?  Are you up to date on the latest CPR Myths & Tips?

Read 5 Ways to Celebrate American Heart Month for more information on how to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Here’s a Power Point Presentation for 2009 American Heart Org Stats in case you want to present these facts to your family, school or group.

It seems that matters of the heart are quite serious. So serious that every year since 1963, Congress has required the President to proclaim February ‘American Heart Month’.  The American Heart Association helps to draft this proclamation and get it signed.  Who knew?

Even so, after 45 years of ‘proclaiming’, cardiovascular disease remains the number 1 killer (including stroke) in our nation today. Let’s join President Obama and the American Heart Association’s plight to fight heart disease and raise awareness, shall we?

Here’s how:

1. Get Heart Smart. Like the American Heart Association (AMA) says, “learn and live”. Did you know that the death rate from cardiovascular disease (CVD) is higher for females than males? And that the warning signs of a heart attack may be different for men and women?  Read Staggering Heart Facts and Heart Attack & Stroke Warning Signs: Men vs Women.

2. Check yourself. According to the AMA, if you’ve made it to middle age (eg, 50) and you’re a non-smoker without high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes then congratulations!  You can look forward to: a substantially longer life; lower risk for CVD; lower risks for CVD death and non-CVD death; better health-related quality of life in older age; and, substantially reduced Medicare expenditures. Start monitoring your cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels now. They’re sneaky and you might not even know you’re in trouble. The good news is, they are manageable with help from your doc. If you smoke, quit it. It’s gross and stinky and stupid and so uncool,  unlike you.  Here is a List of Heart Attack & Stroke Risk Factors and Guidelines.

Products to help you measure and track from home:  cholesterol test kit, blood pressure monitors and diabetic meters & test kits.   Monitor your heart health here.

3.  Get Heart Healthy.  Eating right, staying fit and managing your weight will go a long way to keeping a heart attack at bay.  Learn how here.  Get started with  heart rate monitors.

4.  Spread the Word.  As with all diseases, I believe that awareness is half the battle.  You could save someone’s life by sharing your knowledge about heart disease with your family, friends, schools, social groups, community groups.  Even if it is just in casual conversation, try to work in “have you had your blood pressure checked lately?”  or “did you know that… ”.  The AMA asks you to be part of the cure.  Become an advocate!  Another way to spread the word is to get involved with local heart charities.  You can volunteer at hospitals, deliver leaflets door to door, start your own campaign or attend charity events.  Here are some specific ways to give.

5.  Cover your bases.  Do you know what to do in the event of a heart attack?  Do you know how to do CPR? Does your school, home, company and shopping mall have an Automated External Diffibrilator (AED)?  They are so affordable now, there is no excuse.  If you or a loved on is at risk for a heart attack you may also consider getting a 911 Medical Alert System. 

See all Diagnostic Products.

If you’ve read all of these articles and you crave more, visit the American Heart Association website.

Happy American Heart Month!  Please take care of yourself.  We heart you.

-v