HEALTHY FAMILY
8 Essentials for
a Healthy Heart
BY FAMILY FEATURES
Eat Better
A heart-healthy diet encompasses a high
intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and
legumes; whole grains and fat-free and low-
fat dairy; lean protein and low intake of
sodium, red and processed meats and sweet-
ened foods and drinks. Eat whole foods and
rely on healthy non-tropical oils (like olive
and canola) for cooking.

According to Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), 60% of children do not eat enough
fruit to meet daily requirements and 93%
don’t get enough vegetables. When trying to
increase your child’s fruit intake, be sure to
choose fruits over fruit juice, as fruit juice
can be high in added sugars.

26 Washington FAMILY FEBRUARY 2023
Get Active
For most adults, the target level of moder-
ate physical activity (such as walking) is 150
minutes or more per week or 75 minutes per
week of vigorous-intensity physical activity.

Kids age 6 and older need 1 hour or more of
play and structured activities per day.

Quit Tobacco and Nicotine
Nicotine makes your heart rate and blood
pressure skyrocket, while carbon monox-
ide and tobacco rob your heart, brain and
arteries of oxygen. At least 250 chemical
compounds in cigarettes are harmful to your
health. Reducing your health risk means
eliminating exposure to any form of nico-
tine, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes and
vaping devices, as well as limiting your expo-
sure to secondhand smoke.

In Maryland, 27.4% of high schoolers
report currently using a tobacco product,
including e-cigarettes, according to the CDC.

The National Cancer Institute reports that
90% of adult daily cigarette smokers first
tried smoking before they were 18 years
old. While no parent wants to assume their
child will try smoking, having a conversation
about the risks with your kids is important
for every parent.

Get Adequate Sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep is vital to car-
diovascular health. Measured by average
hours of sleep per night, the optimal level is
7-9 hours daily for adults. Ideal daily sleep
ranges for children are 10-16 hours per 24
hours for ages 5 and younger; 9-12 hours for
ages 6-12; and 8-10 hours for ages 13-18.

Maintain a Healthy Body Weight
Although the measure of body mass index
(BMI) is not a perfect metric, it is easily cal-
culated and widely available; therefore, BMI
remains a reasonable gauge to assess weight
categories that may lead to health problems.

A BMI of 18.5-24.9 is associated with the
highest levels of cardiovascular health.

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F or American Heart Month in Febru-
ary, take your family’s heart health
into your own hands with Life’s
Essential 8—a checklist of healthy habits
and measures that affect heart, brain and
overall well-being for anyone age 2 and older.

The American Heart Association’s check-
list—now expanded for younger ages since
its release more than a decade ago—is cen-
tered around the body’s most important
muscle: the heart.

Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause
of death in the United States and globally.

Studies throughout the past two decades
indicate more than 80% of all cardiovascu-
lar events may be prevented by a healthy
lifestyle and management of risk factors.

“We felt it was the right time to conduct a
comprehensive review of the latest research
to refine the existing metrics and consider
any new metrics that add value to assessing
cardiovascular health for all people,” notes
Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., EAHA,
president of the American Heart Association
and chair of the department of preven-
tive medicine at Northwestern University’s
Feinberg School of Medicine.

Start making positive changes to improve
your heart and brain health with these eight
essential steps: