February serves as American Heart Month, providing an opportune time to recognize – and address – the risk factors for heart disease. That’s crucial considering a recent report by the American Heart Association found heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, with over 941,000 Americans dying of this disease every year1.
This translates to nearly 2,500 deaths every day1, even though 80% of those cases are preventable2. Alarmingly, the prevalence of heart disease continues to rise due to increasing risk factors, such as having diabetes or prediabetes; high blood pressure; high or unhealthy levels of cholesterol; and obesity.
During American Heart Month, everyone is encouraged to understand the importance of heart health and adopt healthier behaviors that can decrease the risk of serious health outcomes.
By adopting healthier lifestyle habits, you can learn to incorporate small, but important, changes into your day-to-day routines that can help prevent heart disease. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) states living a healthier lifestyle3 can help keep your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels normal and lower the risk for heart disease and heart attack.
Here are five lifestyle habits to help improve heart health during February and year-round:
Choose healthy foods and drinks. Consider eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. Eating foods high in fiber and low in saturated and trans fats can help prevent high cholesterol4. Recent research concludes that avoiding alcohol entirely5 is the optimal option to improve or maintain your health. If you choose to drink, limit the amount of alcohol to one drink per day for women, and two drinks per day for men.
Keep a healthy weight. People who are overweight or are currently obese have a higher risk6for heart disease. Extra weight can put extra stress on the blood vessels and the heart.
Get regular physical activity. Any physical activity is better than none. For adults, the Surgeon General recommends 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intense activity every week for heart health. For adolescents and children, it is recommended they get 1 hour of physical activity daily. Talk with your doctor before significantly increasing your activity level.
Quit smoking. Cigarette smoking and tobacco use can increase your risk of heart disease7. If you do smoke, quitting will help lower your risk for heart disease. Talk to your doctor to learn about ways to help you quit, and check with your health plan or employer to determine what smoking cessation resources may be available.
Get good sleep. The recommended amount of sleep for most healthy adults is at least 7 hours each night. Lack of sleep is associated with health problems such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and obesity8, all of which can raise your risk of heart disease.
1 American Heart Association, 2025, https://newsroom.heart.org/news/heart-disease-remains-leading-cause-of-death-as-key-health-risk-factors-continue-to-rise
2 World Heart Federation, https://world-heart-federation.org/what-we-do/prevention
3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/prevention/index.html
4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/prevention/index.html
5 World Health Organization, 2022, https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
6 Healthline, 2022, https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/heart-disease-and-obesity
7 U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 2021, https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/health-effects-tobacco-use/how-smoking-affects-heart-health
8 American Heart Association, 2023, https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/sleep-disorders/sleep-and-heart-health
Dr. Greg Carnevale
Dr. Greg Carnevale is Chief Medical Officer for UnitedHealthcare of PA.
