17 Bad Habits For Your Heart

Everyone wants to have a healthy heart. Still, cardiovascular disease affects more than one in three adults in the United States.

The good news is that some simple, everyday habits can make a big difference in your ability to live a healthy lifestyle.

Here are the 17 worst habits for your heart, and how to avoid them.

1 of 17

Watching TV

1 of 18

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

Sitting for hours on end increases your risk of heart attack and stroke, even if you exercise regularly. "Intermittent exercise doesn't compensate for the time you sit," says Harmony R. Reynolds, M.D., associate director of the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, in New York City. Why? The lack of movement may affect blood levels of fats and sugars. Dr. Reynolds advises walking around periodically and, if you're at work, standing up to talk on the phone. More from Health.com: 10 Best Foods for Your Heart Surprising Facts About Cholesterol 12 Ways to Fight Stress and Help Your Heart

Willie Geist: Brian Williams 'A Caregiver For Our Parents, Grandparents'

Syria Troops Begin Homs Ground Attack, 13 Killed To Save Journalist Paul Conroy

Bruce Beresford-Redman Murder Case: TV Producer In Mexico To Face Charges In Wife's Death

Story Of The Decade (2001-2010): Your Final Picks

Arizona Tornado 2010: Rare Twisters Hit Flagstaff Area (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Carl Probyn: Jaycee Lee Dugard's Stepfather Talks About Her Return (PICTURES)

Sitting for hours on end increases your risk of heart attack and stroke, even if you exercise regularly.

"Intermittent exercise doesn't compensate for the time you sit," says Harmony R. Reynolds, M.D., associate director of the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, in New York City.

Why? The lack of movement may affect blood levels of fats and sugars.

Dr. Reynolds advises walking around periodically and, if you're at work, standing up to talk on the phone.

More from Health.com:
10 Best Foods for Your Heart
Surprising Facts About Cholesterol
12 Ways to Fight Stress and Help Your Heart

comments(400)

Total comments: 400 | Post a Comment

1 of 18

This habit

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

I do that I never do that

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top 5 habits

loading...

Top 5 habits

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[Kenz300]

08:04 PM on 04/01/2011

We all need to take personal responsibility for our health.

Reduce your intake of salt, sugar and fat.

Get a little exercise every day even if it is only walking the dog.

You will feel better and will be healthier and you will save a lot of money on doctors visits and prescriptions.

[miamorphos]

02:51 PM on 04/01/2011

As I sit here grading a batch of freshmen papers, I am becoming more and more of a stickler for clear expression -- and I have to ask: Wouldn't it sound better to say "17 Habits Bad for Your Heart"?

[dbsherri]

08:38 PM on 04/01/2011

I thought that as well! Have you ever read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"? Hysterical take on proper writing by a self proclaimed "stickler" I read all the time and that kind of thing stand out to me like a big black mark. I hate being distracted from a good story by bad writing. I'm no pro, but reading has really improved my ability to discern.

[miamorphos]

01:24 PM on 04/02/2011

I try to remember that the wrier of a story often doesn't write the headline or title -- and that the people working editorially at a website or publication are usually overworked and only have a minute to get a title down. Still...

[elcerritan]

12:27 AM on 04/03/2011

Yes, it would.

[vidmagic]

01:04 PM on 04/01/2011

Someday a doctor will report that occasional smoking reduces stress, reduces weight, and increases social activities. Just wait.

[Idaho Revolutionary]

11:23 AM on 04/03/2011

Well all of the above is true. The only problem is that a doctor would lose is job for reporting findings that weren't PC. Alas, the problems with medical research; people only allow to be reported what they want to hear, thus the change on medical opinions on many things in the last decade or so ranging from drinking to exercising.

[lillyM r]

09:58 AM on 04/01/2011

Cool, so my depression and lack of interest in humans will end up giving me heart disease? Brilliant.

[Dr JAY Veeoh]

09:50 AM on 04/01/2011

Very good article. Like to add :

# 18 Eat only three times a day. Avoid all "in between" snacks.

I have no medical proof for that ,but I know it works marvels.

[Idaho Revolutionary]

11:24 AM on 04/03/2011

Other studies, especially concerning athletes, have shown that eating many small meals during the day keeps the metabolism running efficiently and far more calories are burned this way.

[Irockcollinwood]

07:15 AM on 04/01/2011

eating all meats and dairy... just sayin'/

[Kainen28]

06:51 AM on 04/01/2011

Informative post. A healthy diet and exercise and avoid snuff, is one of the most important steps you can take to prevent heart disease. Even if you already have the disease, a heart-healthy diet can help slow its progression. The key is to pay attention to your diet and plan your meals carefully.
http://www.biblehealth.com/heart-disease/heart-disease-diet.html

[ex-eye-in-the-sky]

05:51 AM on 04/01/2011

Whew..there for a second I thought I was a risk. But there ARE at least 3 of those things I do not do. (anymore)

[martinchill]

04:26 AM on 04/01/2011

also 'breathing air'.
they forgot that one.

[pattileigh]

09:29 AM on 04/01/2011

or drinking radioactive water.

[martinchill]

01:17 PM on 04/01/2011

or just water.

find and watch Gasland online.

[TRichards]

03:47 AM on 04/01/2011

Pretty solid stuff except for the dietary advice. I strongly recommend Gary Taubes's Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It. Or, if reading another book is too much, let me summarize. Keep away from the carbs and the recommendations of that obscene political document, the food pyramid.

Taubes makes a strong case for a revolutionary idea that may well be right: We don't get fat because we eat too much. We eat too much because our bodies are turning our food into fat rather than energy, thereby causing us to desire more food. He supports this thesis with animal studies and with the relative success of low-carb diets that correct insulin imbalances over the misguided and ineffective suggestions of most of the medical community.

When on a low-carb diet, those prone to eating binges soon lose the desire to binge -- until they reintroduce carbs in a what-the-hell moment and retrigger the hunger.

Certain surgeries done on animals will see them become obese after their bodies no longer process food correctly. And, even when their diets are restricted by the experimenters, they continue to be fat unless put on a diet that is literally a starvation diet. Did the surgery make the animals gluttons and slothful. Or did their induced inability to process food correctly cause the problem? (Hint: When administered the hormones they could no longer produce, they returned to normal eating and normal size.)

Also, dietary fat is no problem.

[acf530]

08:55 AM on 04/01/2011

If you exercise with any regularity and intensity, a low carb diet is simply not a realistic option. Your body stores a certain amount of glycogen (from carbs) for quick, easy energy. For every gram of glycogen your body stores, it also stores 3-4 grams of water. This is why diets like Atkins "work" so fast- you're just losing your glycogen stores and all the water that goes with them. Once you lose that initial glycogen and water weight, the first 5-10 lbs, you won't have any energy to exercise. As soon as you eat carbohydrates again, all the weight comes back as your body replenishes it's glycogen/water storage. I'm 39 years old, 5'10, and weigh 137. My blood pressure is low, my resting heart rate is low - I eat at least 60% of my calories from carbohydrates. Diet without exercise isn't the answer.

[Nutritarian]

09:48 AM on 04/01/2011

Agreed and have similar numbers at 48, been an athlete my entire life. I think low carb works if you have a broken metabolism after years of SAD eating and laying around on the couch otherwise you can eat healthy carbs. I agree couldn't imagine being athletic and living on ketones in a 10k road race or playing 90 minutes of soccer running 8-12km. I eat all the fruit and healthy carbs I want and I'm not diabetic and fat like the low carb folks. Besides, I look at the low carb community like Gary Taubes(beer belly) and Dr. Eades and they all look like SAD eaters. Jimmy Moore the guy who runs the biggest low carb website still looks obese and unhealthy to me. Sorry, not going to take dietary advice from those folks.

[TRichards]

04:55 PM on 04/01/2011

Nonsense under the protective umbrella of oft-repeated myths which, in their repetition, take on the veneer of venerable old truths.

I've been on an Atkins-styled diet for months and am exercising daily and often vigorously. My energy is greater than it's been for years -- and it's all no surprise to those who have read the book.

You can eat carbs and not be fat. I can consume alcohol and not be an alcoholic. We're lucky. But the fat cannot safely eat carbs (past a point to be discovered through gradually reintroducing them after cutting them out) and the alcoholic can not safely drink alcohol.

Carbs trigger the overproduction of fat and the resultant inaccessibility to the nutrients consumed drives the person with the fat disease to consume more and more. Cut out the carbs and the body's insulin balance returns. When it does (within a week or two), the urge to overeat is gone. And, after the initial water loss, the fat itself dissolves and stays off if the dieter recognizes that he can no more consume carbs (past a point) than the alcoholic can consume alcohol.

Don't tell the alcoholic that alcohol has benefits and don't tell the fat that eating carbs is good for them. Neither is true. Simply be grateful that you don't happen, through no fault of your own, not to be among them.

[BlackYowe]

03:35 AM on 04/01/2011

This is lamer than lame! Was this written by 6th graders?

[ramal]

03:35 AM on 04/01/2011

Well, I guess this article is right. Great Aunt Jenny had two vodka martinis everyday for sixty years; ate steak three times a week; watched a lot of television; never exercised and pretty much lived as much as a recluse as she could. She died a few years back of a massive heart attack---at age 96.

[purenergy]

08:04 AM on 04/01/2011

What a shame her life was cut short...;)

[alexunlv]

02:23 AM on 04/01/2011

Sometimes I sit in the corner of my room and if I think hard enough, I can fly across the room. Did I mention that my favorite color is clear?

[alexunlv]

02:20 AM on 04/01/2011

How many times do we have to point out that most modern people do NOT sit in front of a TV. Our generation sits in front of a computer.

So please, change it to "Sitting in front of computer."

[European1919]

07:51 AM on 04/01/2011

Switched my telly on about 5 times in the past 12 months. Don't even use the DVD for watching films anymore.

[elcerritan]

12:31 AM on 04/03/2011

Unfortunately, NOT watching TV doesn't actually PROTECT you from hear disease.

[The Goddaughter]

01:37 AM on 04/01/2011

To quote a Woody Allen movie: "In order to live to be 100, you'll have to give up most of the things that would make you want to live to be 100."

Or to quote Jack Nicholson in "The Witches of Eastwick": "I see guys 60, 70 years old, busting their b*lls to stay fit. What for? When I die, I want to be sick, not healthy."

[Sol76]

02:53 AM on 04/01/2011

To quote Frank Sinatra,

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day."

[ramal]

03:39 AM on 04/01/2011

Quentin Crisp said that he drank a Guiness Stout first thing each morning because, "It shortens the day."