Improve Heart Health with New Year's Resolutions

2012 is upon us, and if you're thinking of ways to improve your heart health, Dr. Chauncey Crandall, chief of the cardiac transplant program at the world-renowned Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Florida, and author of Newsmax's Heart Health Report newsletter has some important advice: Stop smoking.

"Smoking is one of the most significant risk factors for the development of heart disease," Dr. Crandall tells Newsmax Health. "Tobacco contains thousands of chemicals, and they damage the lining of the walls of the arteries in the heart. Tobacco causes blood vessels to constrict — or narrow — and causes a disruption in the lining of the walls of arteries called the endothelium. It tries to repair itself with a patch made of cholesterol, and that cholesterol leads to the development of heart disease, causing blockages and heart attacks."

Fortunately, even if you've smoked for years, the damage to your cardiovascular system is reversible. Quitting smoking is the first step. "The most important thing is to stop smoking," says Crandall. "It's a deadly habit that will lead to an early death." Second, improve your lifestyle. Lower your cholesterol, control diabetes, and lose weight if you're overweight. "By doing all of these things, the damage by smoking can be reversed," he says.

How soon can you expect to see improvement? Although some experts say it takes seven years to repair damage to the heart done by smoking, Dr. Crandall thinks it's a much shorter length of time — "Three years, possibly." And some benefits come quickly. "I've heard people say that within a short period of time, they can take deep breaths again."

A popular New Year's resolution is to exercise more. But what type of exercise is best? "Simply walking one hour a day is the best exercise you can do for heart health," Dr. Crandall says. "Walking doesn't cost anything, you can do it every day, and you can do it for the rest of your life.

"Exercise is important for everyone, even those with heart disease," says Dr. Crandall. If you can't walk an hour in the beginning, start with 15 minutes a day and work up to an hour. "Your body wants to get better," Dr. Crandall says. "It wants to improve."

Improve Heart Health with New Year's Resolutions