by Dena Patton

 

Research shows that most 50-year-olds who; Stay away from cigarettes. Keep a slender physique. Get some exercise. Eat a healthy diet and keep your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar in check live up to 40 years free of stroke and heart disease, two of the most common killers, says Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association. The heart association published the advice online Wednesday in the journal Circulation.

"These seven factors if you can keep them ideal or control them end up being the fountain of youth for your heart," said Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist who was lead author of the statement. "You live longer, you live healthier longer, you have much better quality of life in older age, require less medication, less medical care."

Specifically, those with ideal cardiovascular health can answer yes to the following seven questions:

Never smoked or quit more than one year ago.

Body mass index less than 25.

Get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week.

Meet at least four of these dietary recommendations: 4 1/2 cups of fruit and vegetables a day; two or more 3.5-ounce servings a week of fish; drink no more than 36 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages a week; three or more 1-ounce servings of fiber-rich whole grains a day; less than 1,500 milligrams a day of salt.

Total cholesterol of less than 200.

Blood pressure below 120/80.

Fasting blood glucose less than 100.

Doctors say the quiz is a good way for people to get a handle on how they're doing, especially since people often think they're doing better than they actually are.

The heart association found just that in a recent survey that showed 39% of Americans thought they were living with ideal heart health, yet 54% of those had been told they had either a heart disease risk factor or needed to make a lifestyle change to improve heart health, or both.

I had a minor stroke at age 26 and since then I have learned that changing a few of my bad habits were life changing. If you take the above 7 habits and spread them over the next 12 months you too will be extending your life. Which one will you start with is the question?

Dena Patton is a Life Coach, Speaker and CEO of Chat, Chew and Chocolate. She is writing her first book The Well-Balanced Superwomen. There are free downloads for you: a boundaries worksheet, a great to-do list organizer, a Gratefulness Journal and a Me Time Study all on Dena's bio page (bottom/right side of bio page). Info on her programs and coaching visit, www.TheBoundariesCoach.com. Find her on Twitter @chatchew.