196/365 Heart Disease Awareness

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

February is National Heart Month. Wear red on the 4th to remind friends, loved ones, and strangers to take care of their hearts!

Heart disease is the number one killer in America. It is also almost entirely preventable! Things that increase your risk for heart disease are smoking, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, age, family history, diabetes, and being overweight or obese. I encourage you to know your numbers (BP at least, cholesterol if you can) and make sure that your older loved ones (males over 45 and females over 55) to know their numbers too.

What are ways you can prevent heart disease? If you're smoking, quit! If you've never smoked, don't start! It's a bad habit that is incredibly hard to break. Smokers always tell you, "Don't start smoking." Take their advice. Exercise is a huge way to decrease your risk. Exercise has been shown to increase HDLs, decrease blood pressure, help control diabetes, and promote weight loss.

The late Jack LaLanne, father of health and fitness, once said, "The only thing you can do to hurt your body is to not use it."

In health,

Lauren