Regina Druz, a cardiologist at the Integrative Cardiology Center of Long Island, told Healthline that stress is a factor along with obesity, diabetes, and pollution. Same recommendations hold while watching TV,” he said.ĭr. “I also suggest getting up every 15 minutes if you have a desk job and move around and stretch. “We also need ‘me time’ to recharge, so I tell my patients to spend at least 15 minutes by themselves to collect their thoughts, whether by meditation or shutting off the radio while in the car.” “What we aren’t doing enough is getting up and out, spending quality time with loved ones daily, and smelling the roses,” Miller said. He told Healthline that the main factors driving the rise in heart disease are obesity and type 2 diabetes, but the real underlying culprits are moving less and stressing more. Michael Miller is a cardiology professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and author of “Heal Your Heart: The Positive Emotions Prescription to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.” Read more: Get the facts on heart disease »ĭr. In addition, people may not realize how devastating heart disease is until they know someone who has it. Other diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease garner more attention, but the fact is cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the nation’s most prevalent and costly killer, Houser told Healthline.Įven though smoking is on the decline, Houser said that other risk factors - obesity, poor diet, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes - are on the rise. Why is heart disease getting worse, even though our society seems obsessed with healthy living? The news comes as two celebrities made recent headlines for heart-related complications.Īctor Bill Paxton died at age 61, reportedly from a stroke during heart surgery to fix a damaged valve, while fitness guru Bob Harper, from “The Biggest Loser,” suffered a heart attack at age 51. He says heart disease and its complications are spreading quicker than originally thought. That “could bankrupt our nation’s economy and healthcare system,” according to AHA President Steven Houser, PhD. The AHA predicts that costs related to the disease will double from $555 billion in 2016 to $1.1 trillion in 2035. That’s up from earlier predictions from the American Heart Association (AHA) of 40 percent by 2030. New statistics predict that 45 percent of people in the United States will have at least one issue related to the disease by 2035.

It seems that Americans aren’t getting the message about heart disease.

America is in the heart