Healthy heart for life: Avoiding heart disease
I’d like to improve my heart health, but am worried I don’t have the motivation to join a gym or make big diet changes. Any advice?
Answer
from Martha Grogan, M.D.
It’s great that you want to improve your heart health. Don’t think that you have to make big changes to have an effect on your heart health, though. Even small, basic steps can have dramatic effects.
One of the biggest drops in heart disease risk occurs when you go from a sedentary lifestyle to being active as little as one hour a week. That’s right, just one hour. Obviously, the more active you are, the better. But just one solid hour of activity over the course of a week makes a difference.
Health professionals at Mayo Clinic have developed the Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart Plan. The entire plan is contained in the book Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart for Life! A Plan for Preventing and Conquering Heart Disease. But one of the key messages in the plan is that even little steps may make a big difference.