Killing Heart Disease
By Lydia Yolen
There’s finally good news in the health industry – heart disease and stroke death rates are down down down.
Death rates from coronary heart disease are down 30.7% since 1999, and stroke mortality has dropped 29.2%.
The American Heart Association set a goal to reduce coronary heart disease and stroke death by 25% by 2010, and it seems that they’ve succeeded. But they’re not resting on their laurels. Though death rates themselves are down, the risk factors that lead to death are perilously high, risking a reverse of the downward trend with time.
Age, being male, and genes are not risk factors that anyone can change, but you can try to reduce your risk factors by eliminating the following:
- Smoking
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Physical inactivity
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Stress
- Birth control pills
- Excessive intake of alcohol
