Your Health Matters | spring 2004


 
 

Five Healthy Habits Protect the Heart

A heart-healthy lifestyle can cut a woman’s risk of heart disease by more than 80 percent. So says a study that followed 84,129 women for 14 years.

Researchers considered the women to live a heart-healthy lifestyle if they:

  • Did not smoke.
  • Were a healthy weight.
  • Exercised for at least 30 minutes a day, every day.
  • Drank a moderate amount of alcohol.
  • Ate a high-fiber, low-fat diet.

Only three percent of women studied actually lived that way. These women had an 80 percent lower risk of heart attacks and heart-related deaths than their peers. The most important part of a healthy lifestyle appears to be not smoking. Women who smoked one to 14 cigarettes a day tripled their heart disease risks.

New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 343, No. 1



The editorial content of this online publication is taken from the print version of Your Health Matters published by Southcoast Hospitals Group.

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