Download the Heart Health Challenges today!
Taking small steps towards healthy living can make a big difference in your heart health.
Get started today by taking the Heart Health Challenge! There are 6 challenges – each one will help
you make a healthy change that has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease.
1. Choose one challenge to start:
2. For each challenge, read the action steps and choose the ones you want to try. Sign the health contract. Then, follow through on the action steps you have
chosen for the 2-week challenge period.
3. Your Pharmacist can answer any questions that may come up during the challenge and help you choose your next challenge.
4. When you have finished the challenge, return to the pharmacy with the signed contract to show your Pharmacist you have completed the challenge.
Healthy Eating
Why healthy eating is so important for your heart.
Eating a heart-healthy diet (low in salt and saturated or trans fats and rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) can reduce your risk of heart disease.
Here’s how:
- Eating a diet low in “bad” (saturated and trans) fats can help lower your cholesterol. Cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease.
- Cutting back on salt can help reduce your risk of high blood pressure, another important heart disease risk factor.
- Eating more fruits and vegetables provides more heart healthy antioxidants to help prevent cholesterol from building up in your arteries.
- Limiting your alcohol intake (part of healthy eating) can help cut your risk of heart disease, since too much alcohol can raise your blood pressure.
- Healthy eating can also help you maintain a healthy body weight. Being overweight is another one of the major risk factors for heart disease.
Because healthy eating helps reduce your heart disease risk in so many ways, it’s one of the most important steps you can take to have a healthy heart! Download now.
Physical Activity
Why physical activity is so important for your heart.
If you do not get enough exercise, your risk of heart disease doubles.1 Getting active will combat the number one risk factor for heart disease. Leading an active lifestyle can help protect you from heart disease by:
- Helping you reach and maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight is a major risk factor for heart disease.
- Keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol under control. High blood pressure and high cholesterol can greatly increase your risk of heart disease.
- Improving your body’s ability to control blood sugar (poor blood sugar control is a risk factor for heart disease).
- Providing a healthy way to relieve stress. Stress increases the risk of heart disease, and many of the ways people cope with stress (such as unhealthy eating, smoking or drinking too much) can increase heart disease risk as well.
Experts recommend at least 150 minutes of physical activity every week.2 That’s about 30 minutes on most days of the week. It may seem like a lot, but you can get there by taking small steps, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Download now.
Quit Smoking
Why quitting smoking is so important for your heart.
Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your heart and your overall health. After you quit, your risk of a heart attack starts to drop after only 2 days.3 And after one year, your risk of heart disease will be just half of what it was when you were a smoker.4 Smoking increases your risk of heart disease in many ways:
- Smoking lowers the oxygen levels in your blood and speeds up your heartbeat, which forces your heart to work harder.
- Smoking raises your blood pressure. High blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease.
- Smoking increases your risk of blood clots. A blood clot in the heart can cause a heart attack.
- Smoking increases the buildup of fatty plaque on the walls of your arteries, which clogs the arteries and increases your risk of heart disease.
Even secondhand smoke can increase the risk of heart disease. So smoking isn’t just hurting you – it’s hurting those around you too.
Besides being a great step towards a healthy heart, quitting smoking can also:
- reduce your risk of cancer
- give you more energy
- help you breathe easier
- improve your senses of smell and taste
- reduce your risk of premature wrinkles
- save you money
Download now.
Blood Pressure
Why controlling your blood pressure is so important for your heart.
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease. The higher your blood pressure is, the higher your risk of heart disease.5
Here’s how high blood pressure puts you at risk for heart disease:
- High blood pressure damages the walls of the blood vessels. Once the walls are damaged, they are more likely to become clogged up with fatty deposits, called plaques, which narrow and “harden” the blood vessels.
- High blood pressure also puts more strain on the heart, since it is harder to pump blood when blood pressure is high.
High blood pressure affects about 1 in 5 Canadians.6 Since it usually doesn’t cause any symptoms, you may have high blood pressure and not even know it. In fact, an estimated 17% of Canadians have undiagnosed high blood pressure.7 But you can find out your blood pressure by testing it at your pharmacy, measuring it with a blood pressure cuff at home, or by having it checked in your Doctor’s office. And you can control your blood pressure by eating healthy (especially cutting back on salt), exercising, quitting smoking, and managing stress. Some people may also need medications. Download now.
Cholesterol
Why controlling your cholesterol is so important for your heart.
Keeping your cholesterol under control is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from heart disease. High cholesterol is very common – it affects about 40% of Canadians.8 But most of the time it causes no symptoms, so you may have high cholesterol and not even know it.
How does high cholesterol increase your heart disease risk?
When you have high cholesterol, it can build up on the walls of your arteries. Eventually the walls of your arteries become narrower and less flexible. This makes it harder for blood to flow through your body. Sometimes, a blood clot can build up in the narrowed artery and move to the heart, causing a heart attack. As your cholesterol levels go up, so does your risk of heart disease. But the good news is that you can find out if you have high cholesterol with a simple blood test. And you can get your cholesterol under control by eating healthy, exercising, and quitting smoking. Some people may also need medications to help control their cholesterol. Download now.
Blood Glucose
Why controlling your blood glucose is so important for your heart.
Whether or not you have diabetes, high glucose (sugar) levels in your blood are a risk factor for heart disease. For people with diabetes, the risk of heart disease is double that of a person without diabetes.9 Heart disease starts earlier and heart attacks are more severe if you have diabetes.10
High blood glucose increases your risk of heart disease in a couple of different ways:
- High levels of glucose in the blood can damage your arteries. This makes you more prone to buildups of fatty plaques (deposits on the inside walls), which “harden” and narrow these blood vessels.
- Having diabetes increases the chances of high blood pressure, which is another heart disease risk factor. As well, people with diabetes are more likely to have other heart disease risk factors such as being overweight (especially with extra weight around the waist), having high cholesterol, and smoking.
You can find out if you have high blood glucose with a simple blood test. It’s also good to know that there are many steps you can take to control your blood glucose, including eating healthy, exercising, reaching a healthy body weight, and keeping track of your blood glucose levels. Keeping your blood glucose levels in a healthy range will help reduce your heart disease risk. Download now.
Endnotes
1Heart & Stroke Foundation. Physical inactivity.
http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3484035/k.3CDF/
Heart_disease__Physical_inactivity.htm, accessed 6 October 2011.
2Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines.
http://www.csep.ca/CMFiles/Guidelines/CSEP-InfoSheetsComplete-ENG.pdf, accessed 6 October 2011.
3Health Canada. Quit smoking.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/tobac-tabac/quit-cesser/indexeng.php, accessed 11 October 2011.
4Public Health Agency of Canada. Why should I stop smoking.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cd-mc/cvd-mcv/stop_smoking-cesser_de_fumer-eng.php, accessed 11 October 2011.
5Public Health Agency of Canada. Hypertension facts and figures.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cd-mc/cvd-mcv/hypertension_figures-eng.php, accessed 11 October 2011.
6Heart & Stroke Foundation. High blood pressure.
http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3484023/, accessed 11 October 2011.
7Public Health Agency of Canada. Hypertension facts and figures.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cd-mc/cvd-mcv/hypertension_figures-eng.php, accessed 11 October 2011.
8Heart & Stroke Foundation. Living with cholesterol.
http://www.heartandstroke.com/atf/cf/%7B99452D8B-E7F1-4BD6-A57D-B136CE6C95BF%7D/Living-with-cholesterol-en.pdf, accessed 11 October 2011.
9U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC).
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/stroke/#connection, accessed 14 November 2011.
10U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Diabetes Information clearinghouse (NDIC).
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/stroke/#connection, accessed 14 November 2011.
