How to Improve Your Heart Health

Your heart is more than just a muscle; it's the engine that powers your entire body. Yet, despite its important role in keeping us healthy and alive, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Fortunately, there are things you can do to improve your heart health and prevent chronic conditions from taking a toll on your cardiovascular system. We sat down with Hamza Ansari, MD, a cardiologist at Memorial Hermann Medical Group Sugar Land, to talk about why heart disease has increased in the United States, ways to screen for potential heart health issues and actions you can take to improve your cardiovascular health.

Heart Disease Risk and Chronic Conditions

According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for one in five deaths among adults younger than 65. And while family history is an important risk factor, Dr. Ansari said that heart disease is more often a lifestyle issue now.

The prevalence of processed foods in the grocery store’s snack aisle and the rapid expansion of fast food as part of the average American’s diet, coupled with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, have “poured gasoline on an already raging fire,” according to Dr. Ansari, further endangering our heart health as a whole.

Some of the problems associated with cardiovascular disease and congestive heart failure include mental confusion, fluid buildup in extremities, shortness of breath and coughing, damage to other organs (such as the kidneys or liver), among others. Essentially, if there is plaque buildup or a blockage in an artery, your entire vascular system is at risk.

Ways to Improve Your Heart Health

If you have risk markers for cardiovascular disease associated with your lifestyle, here are a few steps you can take to improve your heart health:

• Establish healthy eating habits. Not only is it important for you to watch how many calories you are eating, it also matters where you get those calories. According to Dr. Ansari, if a person is maintaining a 1,700-calorie diet but gets 900 of those calories from candy, “they’re not supporting their heart health because refined sugar is very pro-inflammatory.” Instead, you should focus on consuming calories from a balanced diet that focuses on fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed food.
• Whether you’re sitting behind a desk or you’re on your feet all day, sustained exercise is massively important. Dr. Ansari said that nothing can replicate the sustained stress on your cardiovascular system like vigorous exercise and advises doing at least 30 minutes of exercise, five times a week.
• Maintain a healthy weight. One of the biggest obesity comorbidities is diabetes, which can impact heart health; maintaining a healthy weight is vital to long-term heart health.
• Manage stress. Finding a way to handle your stress is important, given that individuals under high stress often have higher blood pressure.
• Stop smoking. As one of the leading causes of heart disease, finding a way to stop smoking can greatly improve your heart health.
• Address autoimmune issues. While not a lifestyle issue, autoimmune diseases (such as lupus or thyroid issues) can present a higher risk for heart disease. You are encouraged to visit a rheumatologist to help manage these issues.

Dr. Ansari said that upward of 50% of the patients he sees in his practice have diabetes, high blood pressure and use tobacco. He called these issues the “trifecta of problems” because they are all pro-inflammatory and increase the probability of plaque in the arteries. He advised that if you treat these issues aggressively, you can dramatically lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Primary Care Sets the Stage for Heart Health

One of the most important tools you can use to prevent heart disease is a PCP you can trust, with annual visits. “The PCP is the bedrock when it comes to heart disease prevention,” explained Dr. Ansari. “They understand your family and personal history, draw labs to understand your personal history, and are ready to partner with you to determine your baseline health. From there, they can guide you on how to improve your heart health or can refer you out to specialist if needed.”

When a PCP provides you with guidance on how to improve your heart health, that your family and friends also can benefit from that education.

“Not only do you want to nip heart disease in the bud, but you also want to make sure your entire household nips it in the bud, too. While most of our patient encounters are one-on-one, patients are often the changemakers at home. That’s so powerful. Having a conversation that gets the people around you on board raises the chances of a patient’s success. Plus, it just increases overall awareness of healthy habits—knowledge spreads fast.”

Dr. Ansari encourages his patients to have a conversation with their primary care provider (PCP) about any known issues with heart disease in their family, including:

• Early onset of heart disease and/or blockages
• The ages of family members who got heart stents
• Whether any family member has had bypass surgery

“This family history can help clue in your PCP to be on the lookout for different lab results that could indicate heart disease,” Dr. Ansari said.

Some markers that could indicate an elevated risk for heart disease include:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Fasting glucose level
• Prediabetes or diabetes diagnosis
• History of smoking tobacco

In the end, heart health isn’t just about managing numbers or following a checklist—it's about making choices that strengthen and support the engine that keeps you going. Whether it’s through small daily habits or long-term lifestyle changes, the key is to stay proactive, informed, and engaged. By taking care of your heart, you're not only investing in your own well-being but also setting an example for those around you. The journey to better heart health starts with a single step, but its impact can last a lifetime.