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February 3, 2021
It’s Heart Month! Apex Benefits and Indy Eleven have teamed up to bring you fun heart-healthy videos all month long for reducing your risk of heart disease and stroke.
Soccer players are some of the more elite and fit athletes on the planet. We can’t imagine anyone more appropriate — like Indy Eleven Goalkeeper Jordan Farr — to provide inspiration for living a heart-healthy lifestyle.
Now, your health goals don’t need to be the same as a world-class athlete’s. Every step toward being more active, eating more healthily and focusing on mental health and self-care is a step toward lowering your risk and changing your life. Read on for more information!
Don’t Get Sidelined by Heart Disease
Did you know heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for over 650,000 deaths annually? That equates to one in every four deaths or one death every 36 seconds.
Don’t get sidelined. Decrease your risk for heart disease with healthier lifestyle choices and support from your healthcare team to manage conditions.
Heart disease is an umbrella term used to refer to various conditions such as coronary artery disease. It occurs when plaque, a fatty, waxy substance, builds up inside your arteries. This narrows the arteries, inhibiting normal blood flow throughout your body. Sometimes, the development of heart disease goes unnoticed or is “silent” until a catastrophic event occurs, such as a heart attack or stroke.
It is best to start by understanding the risks. Nearly half of all adult Americans have at least one of the top three risk factors for heart disease:
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Smoking
Other risk factors include age, family history, diabetes, obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity, and overuse of alcohol. Though there are some factors you can’t control, such as family history, you can make simple behavior changes to significantly decrease your risk of developing heart disease.
February is American Heart Month and the perfect time to make some heart-healthy lifestyle improvements. Here are some ideas to get things started:
- Take a 30-minute walk three days a week – Movement can help lower your blood pressure and increase levels of HDL, or “good”, cholesterol!
- Aim to make your meals as colorful as possible – The more color on your plate, the greater the variety of nutrients consumed!
- Help raise awareness for heart disease by participating in National Wear Red Day on Friday, February 5th – take a photo and share with the hashtag #WearRedDay!
Follow along this month to learn how to best take care of your heart. After all, it’s the only one you have!
Weekly Recipe
Whole Wheat Cranberry Muffins
Kinetiq Health
Organizations are in a constant state of change and the Kinetiq Health team supports them every step of the way. A unique formula of people, processes and technologies enables our team to keep an educated eye on the financial and clinical implications of data to move organizations toward improved financial health and employee wellbeing.
