Tomorrow is Wear Red Day! This is always observed on the first Friday of February, serving as our annual reminder of the importance of heart health with added emphasis on women. February is American Heart Month, aiming to raise awareness at the disease that still claims the most lives of Americans (specifically more women than men but still leading in both) and encourage and motivate us to be proactive in takings new or first steps towards maintaining greater heart health. For many, this is something they have seen time and time again, they no longer see “Wear Red,” and think, “this matters to me!” They think, another month, another theme, “ who cares.” However, as we enter 2025 it is more important than ever to gain new views on these old hearts of ours and how to take better care of them!

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),  in 2022, 702,880 people died from heart disease , that’s 1 in every 5 deaths. However, studies have shown, that this month-long observance provides an opportunity for education, advocacy, and community engagement regarding heart health, which does show valuable impacts on American lives. Scientific studies around the world show that preventing heart disease is supported by individual lifestyle management, which includes understanding your family history, a heart healthy diet, consistent exercise habits, and maintaining lower stress levels.

Factoring advice from the leading cardiologists at the CDC and knowing that most people want to ADD into their lives not have to take AWAY, here are some simple things to welcome into your life for a healthier heart:

  1. Hydration: Drinking adequate water helps maintain optimal blood circulation. Think about it. If our blood and body is made up of mostly water, shouldn’t we offer it the best hydration possible to keep things moving? Treat yourself like a plant and water yourself often!
  2. Being Mindful: Being mindful means you aren’t thinking about anything before or after. You are present in this moment and not the next. This breath, this bite, this laugh. Try it – focus on your breath – just feel it coming in and out. Practice until you can do it without distraction. Now try that while eating, driving, writing, etc.
  3. Sleep: Realistically you probably need to add a higher quality sleep to support your overall cardiovascular function. Some people sleep too much or too little. What type of sleep hygiene can you add to your life consistently that will support a healthier heart?
  4. Stress Management: Adding a stress management routine into our lives should be as common as brushing our teeth and putting on a seatbelt! Stress is going to happen, it can be positive stress or overwhelming stress, but it all takes a toll on our bodies, health and hearts. One of the easiest things to add into our lives are relaxation techniques such as just taking deep breaths a few times a day can be heart health enhancing!

What you eat impacts your heart. Make it easy and focus on real, naturally occurring, single ingredient foods. Adding fruits, vegetables, whole grains (think oatmeal), healthy fats such as avocado, nuts and seeds, and fish, are a great place to start. You can make a whole meal with just these single ingredients: A salad with a clementine on it, a few cashews and a dressing made of avocado oils and lemon juice topped with some grilled chicken: Done! Or take some brown rice, add a ¼ of avocado on top with some roasted salmon and you have a faux sushi bowl! Thinking about nutrition may mean taking a new view on food, but that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated.

Exercise is essential for maintaining heart health. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity. Regular physical activity strengthens the heart muscle, improves circulation, can lower blood pressure and blood sugars while helping to maintain healthier body weights. In addition, exercise has proven to end a stress-cycle, enhance sleep health, and likely cause you to want to drink more water, that helps you hit 3 of the 4 recommendations above. Maybe it’s time to finally view exercise differently, it could literally save your heart!

In conclusion, Wear Red Day serves as an important reminder during American Heart Month that proactive measures regarding heart health are essential now. Data from the CDC, proves that every 33 seconds an American loses their life to Heart Disease. In the United States, about 805,000 people will have a heart attack each year, and that someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds. What’s scarier, 1 in 5 of these are silent, where the damage is done, but the person is not aware and may continue to live in a heart damaging way. Our hearts are absolutely essential to our human life! Without a healthy beating heart, we cannot feed our brains, lungs and bodies what they need. No one is getting younger, older hearts need more care! Perhaps this is the time to start to think differently about our lifestyles, to welcome new views on our old hearts.