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Health & Fitness

Take heart health in your own hands

More people die from heart disease each year than from all forms of cancer combined,  according to a new collaboration called "The Heart Project."

But only 3 percent of Americans follow all four recommendations to counteract the largely preventable health conditions — eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, maintaining healthy weight, not smoking and exercising regularly.

But adhering to the recommendations is not as complicated as you might think, project coordinators say. Mayo advises "eat 5, move 10, sleep 8."

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That means eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, move an extra 10 minutes each day and try to get eight hours of sleep nightly.

"Heart disease is the nation's No. 1 cause of death for both men and women," said John Weston, Mayo's chief marketing officer. Heart disease causes a death in the U.S. about every eight seconds, he said.

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Women are at risk

Dr. Sharon Mulvagh, director of the Women's Heart Clinic at Mayo, said a lot of women don't realize they are at risk of heart disease and heart attacks.

"Only 60 percent of women know that heart disease is the No. 1 killer," Mulvagh said.

Women of color and young women who think they're immune to heart disease are actually at risk.

The incidence of heart attacks is increasing in those two groups.

"Eighty percent of heart disease is preventable," Mulvagh said.

Steps to stop yourself from dying include simple things like taking a daily walk, picking servings of fruits and vegetables instead of prepared high-fat foods, tossing the cigarettes if you smoke them (and never getting another pack), and working to get yourself to a healthy weight. How can you get more vegetables and decrease your heart-disease risk?

Make a simple change to a recipe, The Heart Project suggests. For example, double the amount of broccoli called for and serve the same portion size.

Take matters in your hands

"One in three of us will die of heart disease," Mulvagh said.

But that doesn't need to be the case.

There are, of course, some risk factors that can't be controlled. For example, age and a family history of heart disease.

But you can control whether you take the dog for an extra walk every day or take a stairway instead of an elevator. And you can pick up an apple instead of a doughnut.

Mulvagh said the project is designed to get people to actually take action.

It includes a heart-health quiz.To take the quiz, go to TheHeartProject.com. The website is hosted by Progresso Heart Healthy soups, a Minnesota brand, and includes Mayo Clinic health information.

Lower LDLs through Zzzs

One preventive step many people aren't aware of, Mulvagh said, is getting a full eight hours of sleep each night.

The Heart Project says a good night's sleep can actually help you lower LDL cholesterol (that's the "bad" kind).

If you sit down all day at work, change it up a bit, The Heart Project suggests. Get up and walk around once in a while. Or get a sit/stand desk that lets you stand part of the time.

How do you know if you're having a heart attack? About 58 to 60 percent of women will have chest pain. About 70 percent of men will. Women are more likely than men to have "atypical" symptoms, like pain in the neck or the shoulder blades (between the arms), Mulvagh said.

Shortness of breath, especially after exertion; shortness of breath while at rest; nausea and fatigue also are symptoms.

"Listen to your body. If something's different, don't delay," Mulvagh said. "Call 911. Chew an adult aspirin or four baby aspirin and call 911 and get yourself to the emergency room, because 'time is muscle.'"

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