Nearly a million Americans die each year from cardiovascular disease, but following a few key lifestyle habits could help reduce that number, according to a new study.
American Heart Association researchers who studied more than 5,600 people found that those who ate a healthy diet slept seven to nine hours a night, didn’t smoke, exercised, and controlled their blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and weight. , reduced their risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) by 36 percent.
Additionally, people who had a family history of CVD reduced their risk of developing the condition and dying from heart causes and stroke by 39 percent. Their risk of dying from any cause was reduced by almost 80 percent.
And Jiantao Ma, lead researcher and professor in the AHA’s division of nutritional epidemiology, said following these eight tips could reduce your risk no matter your age or health history.
These are the eight factors the American Heart Association recommends controlling to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks and strokes.
Professor Ma said: “The findings from our study tell us that no matter what your actual age, better heart-healthy behaviors and management of heart disease risk factors were associated with a younger biological age and lower risk. of heart disease, stroke, and death from cardiac causes. diseases, strokes and death from any cause.
Researchers looked at how heart-healthy lifestyle choices impacted the biological aging of the body and its cells, contributing to a person’s overall health.
A multitude of factors affect how the body ages, including genetics, diet, exercise, and environment. These things affect a person’s DNA and leave “markers.”
Scientists can read these markers and use them as indicators of the likelihood that you will develop certain health conditions, such as cancer or heart disease.
In the study, published in the Journal of the American Heart AssociationResearchers analyzed the DNA of 5,680 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which began in 1948 and tracks individuals and their families to understand their risk of developing CVD.
The subjects had an average age of 56 years.
Because the data set goes back so far, the researchers had details about the participants’ family history, allowing them to know if they were genetically predisposed to developing heart disease.
They then gave each participant a lifestyle score based on the AHA’s Life Essential 8, ranging from one to 100, where 100 is the best score someone could get, meaning they met all eight guidelines perfectly.
First, a person’s diet was graded based on how well it fit the AHA’s Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension plan.
The diet is rich in vegetables and light in high-fat meats, sugary drinks and foods high in salt.
The participants’ sleep quality was then rated: They needed between seven and nine hours of sleep to get a good score.
The researchers also rated a participant well if they exercised regularly and did not smoke.
They then scored the participants based on physiological measures. People with high scores had lower BMI, lower cholesterol, and more stable blood sugar and blood pressure.
By looking at their lifestyle habits, family history, and DNA changes, researchers found that people who had high scores on their lifestyle were 36 percent less likely than people with low scores on their lifestyle of dying from cardiovascular disease.
People who were genetically predisposed to developing cardiovascular disease reduced their all-cause mortality by 78 percent.
The results showed that people with high scores were also 39 percent less likely to develop heart disease.
Furthermore, they found that people with healthier lifestyles had biological ages significantly younger than their actual chronological age, suggesting that leading a heart-healthy lifestyle helped them reverse their genetic clock, Professor Ma wrote.
He added: “Our message is that everyone should consider the eight health factors related to heart disease and stroke.”
One limitation of the study that the researchers point out is that they only measured one participant’s DNA at one point in their life.
However, previous research has found that people’s genetic markers can fluctuate widely over a short period of time, meaning it can be difficult to get an accurate reading from a single sample.