Read the latest Cardiology news, opinion, conference coverage, thought leader perspectives, medical journal articles and more from theheart. Medscape. In this blog post, Life Line Screening answers this question how does healthy eating prevent disease See the explanation and step towards health today. Access Task Force findings for interventions to prevent and control cardiovascular disease. Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. F3/graphic-4.medium.gif' alt='How Do Disease Prevention Programs Try To Reduce Cardiovascular Disease' title='How Do Disease Prevention Programs Try To Reduce Cardiovascular Disease' />Are you one of the 47 million women in the US living with or at risk for heart disease WomenHeart is here for you. February 1, 2010 Volume 81, Number 3 www. American Family Physician 289 Secondary Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease SCOTT L. HALL, MD, and TODD LORENC. Heart disease prevention в Strategies you can. Programs About Mayo Clinic. Preventing Heart Disease What You Can Do. Prevention What You Can Do. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Web. MD Heart Disease Health Center Information About Heart Disease. Heart Disease Overview. Heart disease, such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, congestive heart failure, and congenital heart disease, is the leading cause of death for men and women in the U. S. Prevention includes quitting smoking, lowering cholesterol, controlling high blood pressure, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising. How do disease prevention programs try to reduce cardiovascular disease ChaCha Answer Prevention programs aim to increase awareness. Reversing Heart Disease Reversing heart disease is a holy grail of cardiology. Its scary when you are told that you have a blockage in your. Read More. Exercise and Cardiovascular Health Circulation. Over the past 4 decades, numerous scientific reports have examined the relationships between physical activity, physical fitness, and cardiovascular health. Expert panels, convened by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC, the American College of Sports Medicine ACSM, and the American Heart Association AHA,13 along with the 1. How Do Disease Prevention Programs Try To Reduce Cardiovascular Disease' title='How Do Disease Prevention Programs Try To Reduce Cardiovascular Disease' />US Surgeon Generals Report on Physical Activity and Health,4 reinforced scientific evidence linking regular physical activity to various measures of cardiovascular health. The prevailing view in these reports is that more active or fit individuals tend to develop less coronary heart disease CHD than their sedentary counterparts. If CHD develops in active or fit individuals, it occurs at a later age and tends to be less severe. As many as 2. 50 0. United States are attributable to a lack of regular physical activity. In addition, studies that followed large groups of individuals for many years have documented the protective effects of physical activity for a number of noncardiovascular chronic diseases, such as noninsulin dependent diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, and colon cancer. In contrast, we see a higher rate of cardiovascular events and a higher death rate in those individuals with low levels of physical fitness. Even midlife increases in physical activity, through change in occupation or recreational activities, are associated with a decrease in mortality. Despite this evidence, however, the vast majority of adults in the United States remains effectively sedentary less than one third of Americans meets the minimal recommendations for activity as outlined by the CDC, ACSM, and AHA expert panels. What Are the Benefits of Exercise A sedentary lifestyle is one of the 5 major risk factors along with high blood pressure, abnormal values for blood lipids, smoking, and obesity for cardiovascular disease, as outlined by the AHA. Evidence from many scientific studies shows that reducing these risk factors decreases the chance of having a heart attack or experiencing another cardiac event, such as a stroke, and reduces the possibility of needing a coronary revascularization procedure bypass surgery or coronary angioplasty. Regular exercise has a favorable effect on many of the established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. For example, exercise promotes weight reduction and can help reduce blood pressure. Exercise can reduce bad cholesterol levels in the blood the low density lipoprotein LDL level, as well as total cholesterol, and can raise the good cholesterol the high density lipoprotein level HDL. In diabetic patients, regular activity favorably affects the bodys ability to use insulin to control glucose levels in the blood. Although the effect of an exercise program on any single risk factor may generally be small, the effect of continued, moderate exercise on overall cardiovascular risk, when combined with other lifestyle modifications such as proper nutrition, smoking cessation,and medication use, can be dramatic. Benefits of Regular Exercise on Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Increase in exercise tolerance. Best College Physics Programs. Reduction in body weight. Reduction in blood pressure. Reduction in bad LDL and total cholesterol. Increase in good HDL cholesterol. Increase in insulin sensitivity. There are a number of physiological benefits of exercise 2 examples are improvements in muscular function and strength and improvement in the bodys ability to take in and use oxygen maximal oxygen consumption or aerobic capacity. As ones ability to transport and use oxygen improves, regular daily activities can be performed with less fatigue. This is particularly important for patients with cardiovascular disease, whose exercise capacity is typically lower than that of healthy individuals. There is also evidence that exercise training improves the capacity of the blood vessels to dilate in response to exercise or hormones, consistent with better vascular wall function and an improved ability to provide oxygen to the muscles during exercise. Studies measuring muscular strength and flexibility before and after exercise programs suggest that there are improvements in bone health and ability to perform daily activities, as well as a lower likelihood of developing back pain and of disability, particularly in older age groups. Patients with newly diagnosed heart disease who participate in an exercise program report an earlier return to work and improvements in other measures of quality of life, such as more self confidence, lower stress, and less anxiety. Importantly, by combining controlled studies, researchers have found that for heart attack patients who participated in a formal exercise program, the death rate is reduced by 2. This is strong evidence in support of physical activity for patients with heart disease. Although the benefits of exercise are unquestionable, it should be noted that exercise programs alone for patients with heart disease have not convincingly shown improvement in the hearts pumping ability or the diameter of the coronary vessels that supply oxygen to the heart muscle. How Much Exercise Is EnoughIn 1. Surgeon Generals Report on Physical Activity and Health provided a springboard for the largest government effort to date to promote physical activity among Americans. This historic turning point redefined exercise as a key component to health promotion and disease prevention, and on the basis of this report, the Federal government mounted a multi year educational campaign. The Surgeon Generals Report, a joint CDCACSM consensus statement, and a National Institutes of Health report agreed that the benefits mentioned above will generally occur by engaging in at least 3. Modest activity is defined as any activity that is similar in intensity to brisk walking at a rate of about 3 to 4 miles per hour. These activities can include any other form of occupational or recreational activity that is dynamic in nature and of similar intensity, such as cycling, yard work, and swimming. This amount of exercise equates to approximately five to seven 3. METs multiples of the resting metabolic rate, or approximately 6. Note that the specific phrase 3. It has been shown that repeated intermittent or shorter bouts of activity such as 1. People who already meet these standards will receive additional benefits from more vigorous activity. Many of the studies documenting the benefits of exercise typically use programs consisting of 3. It is not usually necessary, however, for healthy adults to measure heart rate diligently because substantial health benefits can occur through modest levels of daily activity, irrespective of the specific exercise intensity. In fact, researchers estimate that as much as a 3. Americans were simply to meet the government recommendations for activity. Recommendation for Physical Activity From the CDCACSM Consensus Statement and Surgeon Generals Report. Every American adult should participate in 3. Moderate activities activities comparable to walking briskly at about 3 to 4 miles per hour may include wide variety of occupational or recreational activities, including yard work, household tasks, cycling, swimming, etc. Thirty minutes of moderate activity daily equates to 6. Physical Fitness and Mortality. One need not be a marathon runner or an elite athlete to derive significant benefits from physical activity.