The American Heart Association adds sleep to the cardiovascular health checklist.
The American Society of Cardiology has updated its checklist for measuring cardiovascular health. It is now called Life’s Essential 8 ™ and adds healthy sleep as essential for optimal cardiovascular health. Other health and lifestyle factors on the checklist, which were part of the previous 7-item scoring tool, include physical activity, weight, nicotine exposure, diet, cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure. The new sleep measurement suggests that 7-9 hours of sleep a day is optimal for cardiovascular health for adults and more for children depending on age. The updated score can now be used for people aged 2 and over, while four items are measured in new ways: a new guide to diet assessment. exposure to nicotine replaces cigarette smoking to include e-cigarettes (vaporization) and exposure to secondhand smoke. Non-HDL cholesterol is recommended instead of total cholesterol. and blood sugar measurement is extended to include hemoglobin A1c levels. Life’s Essential 8 είται is evaluated by the online tool My Life Check, which has an updated scoring system that gives users a score of up to 100 points based on an average score for each health and lifestyle factor.
The Life Heart Essential 8 εικόνα image of the American Heart Association is a wheel shape with 8 wedges that represent the 8 elements that are essential for cardiovascular health. Credit: Copyright American Heart Association 2022 Sleep duration is now considered an essential ingredient for ideal heart and brain health. Life’s Essential 8 ™ for Cardiovascular Health Replaces Life’s Simple 7 ™, according to a new Presidential Advisory, Life’s Essential 8 — Updating and Enhancing the American Heart Association’s Construct on Cardiovascular Health, released today (June 29, 2022), Union flag, magazine with judges. Other updates on optimal cardiovascular health measures, now for anyone aged 2 and over, include a new guide to diet assessment. accounting for exposure to secondhand smoke and vaporization · Use of non-HDL cholesterol instead of total cholesterol to measure blood lipids. and extending the blood sugar measure to include hemoglobin A1c, a key measure in assessing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States and worldwide. According to the 2022 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update, approximately 121.5 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, 100 million are obese, more than 28 million people have type 2 diabetes and only 1 in 4 adults reported having physical activity and exercise recommended in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Instructions for Americans, 2nd Edition. Various research studies over the last two decades show that more than 80% of all cardiovascular events can be prevented by a healthy lifestyle and the management of known cardiovascular risk factors. “The new measurement of sleep duration reflects the latest research findings: sleep affects overall health and people with healthier sleep patterns manage health factors such as weight, blood pressure or the risk of type 2 diabetes more effectively.” said the president of the American Heart Association, Donald. M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, Sc.M., FAHA, who led the writing advisory group and is chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Eileen M. Foell Professor of Cardiac Research and Professor of Preventive Medicine, Medicine and Pediatrics at Feinberg Medical School of Northwestern University in Chicago. “In addition, advances in sleep measurement methods, such as mobile devices, now allow people to reliably and regularly monitor their sleep habits at home.” The Association first defined the 7 Cardiovascular Health Measurements in 2010 to identify specific health behaviors and health factors that lead to optimal heart and brain health. Brain health in relation to cardiovascular health was nominated to a Presidential Advisory Board of the American Society of Cardiology in 2017. It was further recognized as an important component of optimal cardiovascular health in the Union Scientific Statement in January 2021 on the heart-muscle connection . The findings from both documents are incorporated into Life’s Essential 8 ™. After 12 years and more than 2,400 scientific papers on the subject, new discoveries in heart and brain health and ways of measuring cardiovascular health have given us the opportunity to review every element of health in more detail. Four of the original measurements have been redefined for consistency with newer clinical guidelines or compatibility with new measurement tools. Also, the scoring system can now be applied to anyone aged 2 and over. The ingredients of Life’s Essential 8 ™ for optimal cardiovascular health are divided into two main areas – health behaviors and health factors. Health behaviors include diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, and sleep. Health factors include body mass index, cholesterol levels, sugar and blood pressure. “The idea of optimal cardiovascular health is important because it gives people positive goals to work at any stage of their lives,” said Lloyd-Jones. “Life’s Simple 7 ™ has served as a proven, powerful tool for understanding how to achieve healthy aging and improve cardiovascular health, while reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as cancer, dementia and many others. he said. “Given the ongoing research, it was important to address some of the limitations in the initial measurements, especially in ways that have been applied to people from different racial and ethnic populations.” Lloyd-Jones explained that some of the previous measurements, such as diet, were not as sensitive to differences between people or as responsive to changes over time within a single individual. “We thought it was the right time to do a comprehensive review of the latest research to improve existing measurements and to look at any new measurements that add value to the cardiovascular health assessment for all people.” Life’s Essential 8 ™ includes:
