{"id":19289,"date":"2026-05-07T16:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=19289"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:11:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:11:40","slug":"lifes-essential-8-from-american-heart-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/lifes-essential-8-from-american-heart-association\/","title":{"rendered":"Life\u2019s Essential 8 from American Heart Association"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Patrice Powers-Barker, OSU Extension, Lucas County<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>The Truth Contributor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The American Heart Association helps us understand not only heart health but also overall health for our bodies and life with the Life\u2019s Essential 8. AHA shares two major areas: four health behaviors and four health factors. While all of this fits hand-in-hand, it\u2019s helpful to break it down to understand our role and our risks.<\/p>\n<p>The four health behaviors are what we do. The four health factors are sometimes the results of what we do, and they are also used as indicators of our health levels. This information is from the American Heart Association and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>four health behaviors<\/strong> are what we should all be doing, no matter our age. Can you do these four habits?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Eat well<\/strong> by choosing a variety of whole foods with lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, seeds, and healthy oils like olive and canola.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be more active.<\/strong> Adults should get two-and-a-half hours of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. Also reduce your sitting throughout the day. Break up your time sitting by doing 10 minutes three times a day. Kids should have 60 minutes every day, including play and structured activities. Any amount of physical activity is better than none and all activity counts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Quit Tobacco.<\/strong> Inhaled nicotine products which include traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes and vaping, is the leading cause of preventable death in the US. Seek out resources, such as smoke free hotlines and text message programs, which offer free support and information.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sleep well<\/strong> with Seven to nine hours of sleep each night for adults. Children require more: 10-16 hours for ages five and younger, including naps; nine-12 hours for ages six-12; and eight-10 hours for ages 13-18. Adequate sleep promotes healing, improves brain function and reduces the risk for chronic diseases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <strong>four health factors<\/strong> can be measured and monitored. Although a single number doesn\u2019t tell the entire story, by keeping our numbers within in healthy range, we can reduce risk of health<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Manage Weight<\/strong>&#8211; Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight has many benefits. Body mass index, a numerical value of your weight in relation to your height, is a useful gauge. Optimal BMI is less than 25, but less than 18.5 is considered underweight. You can calculate it online or consult a health care professional.\u00a0If you\u2019re overweight, losing just three to five percent of your weight can improve blood pressure. If you weigh 200 pounds, that\u2019s a loss of six-10 pounds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Control Cholesterol<\/strong>&#8211; High levels of non-HDL, or \u201cbad,\u201d cholesterol can lead to heart disease. Your health care professional can consider non-HDL cholesterol as the preferred number to monitor, rather than total cholesterol, because it can be measured without fasting beforehand and is reliably calculated among all people.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Manage Blood Sugar<\/strong>&#8211; Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose (or blood sugar) that our bodies use as energy. Over time, high levels of blood sugar can damage your heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves. As part of testing, monitoring hemoglobin A1c can better reflect long-term control in people with diabetes or prediabetes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Manage Blood Pressure<\/strong>&#8211; Keeping your blood pressure within acceptable ranges can keep you healthier longer. Levels less than 120\/80 mm Hg are optimal.\u00a0Everyone ages 3 and older should get their blood pressure checked by a health care provider at least once a year. Expert advice: 30 minutes before your test, don\u2019t exercise, drink caffeine or smoke cigarettes. Right before, go to the bathroom. During the test, rest your arm on a table at the level of your heart and put your feet flat on the floor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Eating Healthy<\/strong> is a common denominator in this Life\u2019s Essential 8. Follow a heart-healthy eating plan, such as NHLBI\u2019s Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). In order to use less salt, one example is to use herbs for flavor instead of salt and add one fruit or vegetable to every meal. Other suggestions for healthy eating include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increase the amount of fiber you eat and the water you drink.<\/li>\n<li>Add protein to your breakfast. Protein will help you feel full for longer.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid fast food when possible.<\/li>\n<li>Read nutritional labels for nutrition and calorie content. Pay attention to the number of serving sizes in each package.<\/li>\n<li>Learn about portion sizes and how much you need to eat to stay healthy.<\/li>\n<li>Stress can trick your body into feeling hungry or craving unhealthy foods. Exercise can reduce stress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Patrice Powers-Barker, OSU Extension, Lucas County The Truth Contributor The American Heart Association helps us understand not only heart health but also overall health for our bodies and life with the Life\u2019s Essential 8. AHA shares two major areas: four health behaviors and four health factors. While all of this fits hand-in-hand, it\u2019s helpful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[346],"class_list":["post-19289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19290,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19289\/revisions\/19290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19289"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=19289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}