Cardiovascular diseases impact our heart and blood vessels. A few examples include heart failure and coronary heart disease. On the global stage, these diseases have made their presence known. In 2019 alone, they accounted for 32% of the deaths we saw worldwide. This translates to almost 18 million people. Fast forward to the present time, and their relevance continues to be undeniable, as they are the leading cause of death across the world (1). This begs the question: what strategies do people living with cardiovascular disease have at their disposal? Click on the links below to learn more.
1. Look into options for cardiac rehabilitation
When we think of where a strategy like “cardiac rehabilitation” is implemented, our minds often jump to more clinical or formal settings like hospitals or community centres. But access to such care and care settings isn’t always easy. So, can home be where the heart is? It could very well be an option. Research shows that home‐based cardiac rehabilitation can provide comparable benefits to supervised centre-based cardiac rehabilitation when it comes to improving exercise capacity, number of deaths, and health-related quality of life in people living with heart disease. More research is needed to support these results and provide insight on long-term impacts (2).
2. Make mental health a priority
Many people living with heart disease must navigate additional challenges including anxiety and depression (3-5). Luckily, psychological therapies like cognitive behavioural therapy are available. Research shows that psychological therapies can reduce anxiety and depression and improve aspects of quality of life tied to mental health (e.g., mood) by moderate amounts in people living with heart failure or coronary heart disease. These benefits are seen when comparing people receiving psychological therapies to those not receiving them. More high-quality research is needed to fill in gaps in the research and provide greater certainty for some outcomes (3).
It’s no secret that the things we eat and drink have significant impacts on our health and well-being. But with dietary advice seemingly coming at us from up, down, left, and right, it can be hard to know what path to choose. Research shows that Mediterranean and low-fat diets can lower the risk of death and non-fatal heart attacks in people living with cardiovascular diseases or at high risk of developing it. Mediterranean diets appear to also have the ability to reduce the risk of stroke (6).
These tips highlight that people living with cardiovascular diseases can tackle the task of improving or maintaining their health and well-being from various angles. Be it diet, mental health or where to access services, teamwork makes the dreamwork, so collaboration with one’s healthcare team is key for the development of a comprehensive treatment plan tailored to the individual and their needs.
