American Heart Month

February is American Heart Month and during the month of February we want to bring awareness to all Americans, especially those in our Rutherford County community about heart disease. American heart month is meant to motivate everyone to adopt healthy lifestyles to help prevent heart disease. There’s a lot that can be done to prevent heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. Working together as a community, family or individual to motivate yourself, or inspire others to work on meeting heart health goals is so important.

Research shows that people find success more often meeting personal health goals when they join together with others. When we take personal responsibility for our own health, and share our journey with others — we can motivate more than we know and help keep others around us healthier.

Want some tips on starting your heart self-care to keep you healthy and help lower your risk for heart disease? Check out these tips:

• Aim for a total of 2.5 hours of moderate intensity aerobic activity each week. This can be done in intervals of 10 minutes or more.
• Don’t make excuses – get active throughout each day regardless of the activity, take walks, go biking, dancing, even gardening counts!
• Three Types of Activity – Aerobic, Strength, Flexibility. Meeting all three of these makes a complete program.
• Do Things You Love – pick activities that fit your lifestyle – don’t plan a hike if you hate the outdoors or commit to swimming everyday if the indoor pool is 45 minutes from your normal route. Pick activities that easily fit into your lifestyle and that you enjoy!
• STAY ACTIVE – DON’T QUIT – this is self explanatory but once you get a good routine of adding healthy movement to your life – don’t let anything stop you.

Moving and getting active is a vital part of your heart self—care routine. What you put in your body as food and fuel matters too, but just something as simple as a ten minute walk, twice a day can dramatically increase your health and wellness. Rutherford’s Best Doctors’ physicians are here to help you in any way with your heart health journey. To find a doctor that suites your needs go to our directory at rutherfordsbestdoctors.com/directory.