February is Heart Disease Awareness Month, which means it’s a good time to review some simple steps to prevent heart disease and promote cardiovascular health.

Exercise: Staying active through regular exercise such as walking the dog, taking the stairs at work are two ways to improve physical activity on a daily basis. Further, playing a sport, jogging, cycling or weight training are also great ways to burn extra calories. Remember, the current recommendation is about two to three hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week.

Food: Increase daily intake of fruits, nuts, vegetables, seed oils, whole grains and oil fish (essentially a Mediterranean diet) while reducing/avoiding intake of fried/processed foods, meats, full fat dairy and sugary snacks and beverages.

Daily Checks: Periodically check your blood pressure and keep it close to 120/80. Maintain a log of your statistics. For patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), follow the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan and limit salt intake.

Diabetes: For patients with diabetes, follow a diabetic diet and closely monitor your glucose and hemoglobin A1c

Just say no: Avoid tobacco use in any form, as well as excessive alcohol intake and the use of recreational/stimulant drugs.

Motivation: Avoid obesity by maintaining an active lifestyle and controlling portion size.

Sleep: Get eight hours of sleep every night. Considering screening for sleep apnea if you are not getting good quality sleep or if you are overweight.

Check in: To further assess your cardiovascular risk, discuss with your primary care provider about checking your cholesterol profile, hs-CRP and CT calcium scores.

Remember, always check with your personal provider or doctor before starting any kind of health regimen.

Darwin Jeyaraj MD, FAHA, FACC, FSCAI is a board-certified interventional cardiologist at Freeman Health System.