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As the seasons transition from one to another, each new season tends to bring shifts in the weather, schedule changes, and perhaps several seasonal foods to enjoy. The turning of the seasons can also be a time to reevaluate health goals and work on strategies to meet those goals.
For people with heart disease and/or high cholesterol levels, the new season can be a great time to start working on lifestyle changes that support heart health, as heart issues can worsen or manifest themselves at any time of the year.
In this post, we’ll discuss some simple, heart-healthy habits you can start to implement during this fall season.
Quick disclaimer—although I am a registered dietitian nutritionist, your reading of this or any articles on this website does not constitute medical nutrition therapy advice nor create a practitioner-client relationship. The information I provide here on this website is for educational and informational purposes only. Please see my full disclaimer for more information.
Add Physical Activity
One of the often mentioned tips for improving both heart health and overall health is physical activity. There is a good amount of research demonstrating how helpful it can be in managing stress, improving endurance and energy levels, and supporting mood.1
During the fall season (depending on where you live), more pleasant weather conditions can support outdoor walks around the block, hiking on a local trail, or other adventure-focused outdoor activities. You may also be able to spend more time outdoors in your back or front yard if you have one.
If outdoor activity is not something you prefer, consider using the fall season as a time to explore some other types of physical activity that you might enjoy. Whether it’s walking on the treadmill while watching your favorite movie or TV show (my favorite!), taking a new class at your local gym, or even looking into workouts online, aim to find something that sounds doable for you.
Before you start working out, make sure to check with your doctor for any restrictions or considerations in your unique situation. If your doctor clears you for exercise, you may also want to speak with a professional, like an exercise physiologist or certified personal trainer, to help you figure out the best plan for you.
Once you’re cleared for exercise, the key is to get started, even if it’s only 1-2 days a week and 10-15 minutes at a time. You can build up from there.
Increase Fiber Intake
Next on our list of heart-healthy habits for the fall is adding in fiber. For most people with heart disease and/or cholesterol concerns, fiber can be a helpful strategy to add to your toolkit of healthy habits.
First and foremost, look at your eating patterns as a whole and take note of how often you’re choosing fruits and vegetables, beans/legumes, and whole grains. These categories of foods are where fiber is generally found.
If you’re dealing with high cholesterol levels (especially high LDL cholesterol), you’ll want to pay close attention to the foods that are high in “viscous fiber.” This is the type of fiber that can help trap cholesterol in the intestines and move it out of the body, thus lowering the level of LDL in your blood.2
Some examples of foods with viscous fiber include:
- Oat bran and oats
- Barley and whole grain rye products
- Lentils, split peas, kidney beans, chickpeas
- Sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, artichokes
- Apples, pears, berries, avocados, oranges
If you want to learn more about viscous fiber, visit my post on the topic here.
It may seem overwhelming to add in all of these foods at once, so you certainly don’t have to! As I tell my patients, choose one or two of these foods to try out per week, and add in more of them in later weeks or months as you can.
I would also encourage you to consider speaking with a registered dietitian for more personalized guidance that fits your needs.
Manage Stress
Third on our list of heart-healthy fall habits is managing stress. Although stress is basically inevitable, how we react to it can make a difference in our health.
Working in the cardiac rehab setting, I frequently encountered patients who had been told by their doctors that extra stress had likely contributed to their heart attacks. Stress can alter your judgment and sometimes push your body into negative health consequences if it’s not managed.3
Some of my patients’ favorite stress management strategies include taking a walk outside to clear their heads, setting reminders or timers to help them remember to take breaks, writing concerns or to-do’s or other plans down instead of dwelling on them, trying out deep breathing exercises to relax, and talking with friends or family for support.
Since strategies that work for one person may not work for another, it’s okay if it takes some time for you to figure out what works best for you. You may also want to consider asking someone who knows you well to weigh in on what strategy might work best for you specifically.
Get Enough Sleep
Fourth on our list of heart-healthy habits for the fall is sleep. In today’s world, there is so much busyness and so many distractions that it can be hard to focus on getting quality sleep.
But sleep plays a vital role in supporting heart health. Research provides some solid associations between lack of sleep and increased risk for cardiovascular issues.4 Plus, adequate sleep allows you to function well each day and reduces the risk of impaired judgment that can result from lack of sleep.4
Most adults need at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night.5 If you’re nowhere near there, consider where there might be an opportunity in your day to add in a few extra minutes on a consistent basis. Consider starting off by going to bed 20-30 minutes earlier than you typically do and by reducing as many distractions (like screens, bright lights, and caffeinated beverages) as you can in the hours leading up to bedtime.
If you need more help with this, talk to your doctor about resources that might be appropriate for your situation.
Set SMART Goals
As we come to the end of our list of heart-healthy habits for the fall, I would suggest using this last habit of goal setting as the basis for supporting the other habits in this list.
Organizing and planning, such as when you set goals, can be quite helpful in propelling you toward meeting your desired health outcomes. The key is to set goals that we often term “SMART” goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based.
To be specific, you want to drill down and specify what you’re looking to achieve. For example, instead of “get more sleep,” consider “go to bed 30 minutes earlier than I normally do on at least 4-5 days this week.”
Also in that example, you want to make sure you can measure it—adding actual numbers can often help with that part. In the above example, you can measure by the 30 minutes and the 4-5 days.
On the achievable side, you’ll want to make sure this is something you can commit to, both for the short term and the long term. For example, if 4-5 days is too much to handle, start out with a smaller goal, like 2-3 days per week.
You’ll also want these goals to be relevant. If you’re already logging the recommended hours of sleep per night, then you’ll want to focus your efforts in an area where you know you need to improve.
Lastly, time-based is an important part of the process. In the above example, I used “days this week” to specify the time. If you don’t say when you’re going to do something, it may end up constantly getting pushed off.
Think about these principles when you’re developing goals you’d like to work on. And if the process doesn’t go as well as you were hoping, don’t give up.
Instead, use it as an opportunity to figure out what worked and what didn’t, and to revise future goals to better fit your lifestyle and needs. This is what I’m constantly encouraging my patients to do.
Conclusion
As we come to the end of this post, hopefully you’ve see how each of these fall-themed habits can support your heart health. I would encourage you to pick one of the habits on this list and see what kind of SMART goal you can come up with to continue to improve your heart health this fall!
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Sources
- CDC. Benefits of physical activity. Physical Activity Basics. May 10, 2024. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/benefits/index.html
- Fiber. Linus Pauling Institute. April 28, 2014. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/other-nutrients/fiber
- Stress symptoms: Effects on your body and behavior. Mayo Clinic. August 10, 2023. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
- How sleep affects your health. NHLBI, NIH. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/health-effects
- How much sleep is enough. NHLBI, NIH. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/how-much-sleep
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