The Most Important Habit To Stop By 50 To Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

Your 50s is an important decade when it comes to your health—especially your cardiovascular health. The average age for being diagnosed with heart disease (the number one cause of death in the U.S.) is 57 for men and 59 for women.

Want to lower your risk? According to cardiologists, there is one major way to do so—and the sooner you do it the better. It requires stopping one extremely detrimental habit.

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The Most Important Habit To Break By 50 If You Want To Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

“For my patients who smoke, I tell them that quitting is the number one most important step they can take to lower cardiovascular risk,” says Dr. Edo Paz, MD, MPH, a cardiologist and the Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Hello Heart.

When you quit smoking, your risk of cardiovascular disease will immediately go down—no matter how old you are. “Smoking cessation is associated with reduced incidences of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, heart attack and many other kinds of heart risks,” Dr. Paz says. He explains that the cardiovascular system, which enables the flow of blood to vital organs throughout your body, simply works better when you’re not smoking.

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What if you don’t smoke? Dr. Paz says that the second most important habit to break by 50 if you want to lower your risk of heart disease is living a sedentary lifestyle. “This could mean, for example, sitting at a work desk all day, then on a couch in front of the TV and finally in bed on your phone,” Dr. Paz says. Scientific research shows that people who are sedentary for more than 23 hours a week have a 37% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than people who are not as sedentary.

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If you do live a sedentary lifestyle, Dr. Paz says that it can feel overwhelming to hear the often recommended advice to get 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. “Getting up and moving during the day seems more achievable, and so it is a great place to start,” he says. Dr. Paz says that even simple daily activities like walking and stretching can improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, which is how well your circulatory and respiratory systems can supply oxygen to the muscles to keep you healthy and moving.

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Another Important Way To Lower Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Stopping smoking and not living a sedentary lifestyle are important ways to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, but Dr. Sam Setareh, MD, MS, FACC, the Director of Clinical Cardiology and Cardiovascular Performance at Beverly Hills Cardiovascular, says that there’s something else he wishes everyone would stop doing by 50: ignoring early cardiovascular disease screenings.

“Many people wait until their 50s or later to address heart health, but prevention should start in the 20s and 30s,” Dr. Setareh says. He explains that there are great screening tools available, such as advanced lipid panels and AI-driven coronary CT angiography (AI-CCTA), which can identify elevated lipoprotein (a) and hidden plaque buildup. “Early detection enables personalized prevention strategies, including lifestyle changes and medications if needed, to halt or reverse disease progression,” he says.

If you haven’t gotten a cardiovascular disease screening yet and are in your 40s or 50s, one important action you can take today is to get one on the calendar. “The best way to protect your heart is by being proactive rather than reactive,” Dr. Setareh says. “Prevention is an investment in your future health.”

When it comes to heart health, being proactive is key. According to the American Heart Association, up to 80% of heart disease is preventable. Putting the advice the cardiologists recommended here—quitting smoking, living an active lifestyle and getting routine cardiovascular disease screenings—can go a long way in protecting your heart both now and in the decades to come.

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Sources

• Dr. Sam Setareh, MD, MS, FACC, Director of Clinical Cardiology and Cardiovascular Performance at Beverly Hills Cardiovascular
  

• Dr. Edo Paz, MD, MPH, cardiologist and the Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Hello Heart