Reversing vs Preventing Heart Disease
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Posted on Mar 17, 2020, 5 p.m.
To help prevent heart disease experts recommend regular exercise, following a heart healthy diet, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight. According to research from Mayo Clinic there are also things that can be done to reverse heart disease as well in certain cases.
According to Dr. Stephen Kopecky, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist."The heart disease you can reverse is the narrowing of the arteries in the heart," who adds that even if you have known heart disease you can improve risk factors, and while these lifestyle changes may not open an artery if it is already blocked these changes can help to prevent other blockages from happening.
"Once you do things like stop smoking, take care of your diabetes, take care of blood pressure, the progression stops," says Dr. Kopecky. "There are so many good benefits to lifestyle in addition to just helping your heart. It also helps reduce Alzheimer's disease, almost all cancers and arthritis. A lot of good things happen.”
Dr. Kopecky recommends starting with small changes such as replacing a bag of chips with an apple or watermelon and a walk to the corner and back and then build the changes up from there. Making changes may not always be easy and it may take some time to see improvements, but it is worth it, after all you only get one heart and you should be doing all you can to take care of it before it is too late.
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