How much do you know about your heart health?

Heart disease, or cardiovascular disease, kills more Americans each year than any other disease according to the American Heart Association. But there are key risk factors that are within your control that can reduce your risk for heart disease, and help you live a longer, healthier life.

What is heart disease?

Heart disease can refer to a number of conditions, including:

• Arrhythmia - abnormal heart beat
• Heart disease
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Heart valve issues
• Stroke

Could I or a loved one be at risk?

Knowing your risk for heart disease is crucial in maintaining a healthy heart. Family history, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are all factors that can influence your heart’s health. The earlier you know which factors are at play, the quicker you can get them under control, decreasing your risk for a serious heart event. Start your journey toward a healthier heart by taking our free risk assessment to calculate your personal level of risk.

Take our Heart Health Risk Assessment

#CPRsaveslives

Why learn hands-only CPR?

One person dies every 36 seconds from heart disease. That’s 100 people every hour. But did you know 45% of patients receiving CPR during a cardiovascular event survive? There are more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring each year. Of the 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur each year, around 70% happen in the home according to The American Heart Association. This means if you’re in a situation where someone needs CPR, it is more than likely a loved one, and his or her survival can be significantly impacted by immediately receiving hands-only CPR.

The steps for performing hands-only CPR for an adult differ from those of an infant or child, and should only be performed on ages 13 and up. Watch the videos below to learn how to provide life-saving care.

If you or a loved one are experiencing signs of a heart attack, call 911 before initiating any level of hands only CPR

A survivor’s perspective

What can I do to reduce my risk?

Knowing your risk is an essential first step to preventing a cardiovascular event. There are other adjustments you can make to your lifestyle that can help reduce your risk including:

• Eating a healthy diet – Start small by substituting fruit in place of dessert or water in place of juice or soda
• Exercising regularly – work towards increasing your excise by one day per week, or try taking the stairs rather than using an elevator
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Managing any pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol or diabetes that may put you at greater risk
• Saying no to tobacco
• Staying on top of medications