Inside This Issue: • Get-In-Shape Tips: Starting an Routine Heart Health • Interval Training: Mix It Up and Save Time • DASH Diet to Lower • 6 Major Risk Factors for Coronary Artery Disease

Get-In-Shape Tips: Starting an Exercise Routine

That first step is the hardest, but it can start you on the Video Spotlight: road to wellness as you develop healthy habits for life. Risk Factors for Heart Disease and Heart Attack You know that exercising can help you lose weight, boost your heart Overcome Your Family History health and even reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. But if of Heart Disease you’ve never been active before, it can be hard to get started. The key to taking that first step is to be prepared and have reasonable expectations. If you have a plan, you are more likely to stick to a routine. It helps to consider the wide variety of activities available to you. Don’t choose a sport or a pursuit that you aren’t interested in. The best exercise is the one you will do regularly. Make it a part of your day that you look forward to! Be sure your plan includes the basics of a healthy workout: • Warming up, cooling down. Whatever exercise you choose, be sure to factor a warm-up and cool-down period into your workout. A good warm-up gets your body ready for more intense activity. The easiest way to warm up is to do an aerobic activity at a slower pace for a few minutes. You can warm down the same way. • . This step after exercise is often skipped by people in a hurry to get their workout completed. Proper stretching may help increase flexibility and improve range of motion and performance.

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Heart Health

Get-In-Shape Tips: Starting an Exercise Routine (continued)

• Setting goals. Over time, you want to meet or exceed the federal guidelines established by fitness experts. The guidelines for adults call for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities. Try to exercise most if not all days of the week. You should work up to at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week AND muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms). Here are some questions to consider when building an exercise plan:

Are you ready?

Any new exercise plan should start with a visit to your doctor. Discuss whether you’re ready to start getting more active. If you have a health condition or a disability, ask if you should take any special precautions when you exercise. If you smoke, set a quit date so you can get even more benefit from an exercise routine. At home or at a gym?

Exercising at home is more economical and convenient for many people. But it requires self-discipline. You can easily be distracted by household needs that seem more pressing. A club or gym costs more, but it offers the stimulation of other people. In addition, most clubs offer a range of activities. Don’t forget your friends and neighbors. They may want to form a walking club or join you in a new physical activity. What’s at play here is your exercise personality. Find the activity you enjoy and the setting where you’ll be most comfortable. Have you set realistic goals?

Many people make the mistake of jumping into vigorous SOURCES: exercise in the hopes of faster results. If you start out too • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2008 physical activity hard, you could get overly tired and discouraged. It takes guidelines for Americans. Accessed: 08/08/2014 time to build stamina, and it takes willpower to stick to • American Council on Exercise. Fit life. Do you know your exercise a routine. A slow and steady start can help you stay with personality? Accessed: 08/08/2014 your plan for the long haul and avoid burnout. • American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Starting an exercise program. Accessed: 08/08/2014 Take that first step today. It can help make Copyright © 2014 myOptumHealth. your tomorrows even better.

2 Heart Health Interval Training: Mix It Up and Save Time Interval training challenges your body with bursts of vigorous activity. That can mean shorter workouts and other benefits.

You’re busy. Physical activity can be hard to fit minutes at a steady pace. It may also boost your post- in, right? One way to maximize your time is with workout metabolism and reduce belly fat. interval training. • Boosts aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Interval Interval training isn’t just for competitive athletes. Sure, training helps your body use more oxygen. And they may use it to gain an edge. But you can use it to in time, you may be able to sustain those bursts of shorten your workouts and maybe whittle your middle. intense work longer. Tackles boredom. The basics •  Intervals can freshen a tired workout routine. Need a distraction? You can make Interval training simply means varying your intensity up your intervals on the fly. during your workout session. Alternate bursts of • Improves health. Interval training may improve higher-intensity exercise with low-to-moderate- insulin sensitivity and lower fasting levels. It may intensity intervals. The less-intense period is called also lead to better heart function in people with heart “active recovery”. conditions. Here are some examples of interval workouts: • Walking: Add short bursts of brisk walking to your walking program. You may go by time — 30 seconds of fast walking, for example. Or distance — a few houses or a block at a time. Decide when to pick up the pace by gauging how you feel. Remember, walking is an excellent activity for many people. • Running: Run hard for one minute and then jog slowly for two minutes. Repeat until you reach your goal time. • Stair climbing: Walk slowly up and down a set of stairs. Now rush up and down the stairs. Repeat several times. The benefits

Interval training gets you out of your comfort zone. It adds challenge and variety to your workout. Interval training also: • Saves time. Your goal is to get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. One minute of vigorous activity is about the same as two minutes of moderate activity. So adding those bursts of intensity can really save you time. Just try to maintain activity for at least 10 minutes at a time. • Burns more calories and fat. Vigorous activity takes more energy than moderate activity. So 30 minutes of interval training will burn more calories than 30

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Interval Training: Mix It Up and Save Time (continued)

Amp up your workout routine • Add weight. If you use a stationary bike or elliptical trainer, turn Interval training is safe for most people, but it does carry up the resistance a few notches to add a risk of injury. If you are physically inactive or have a intensity. health condition such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, pregnancy or other symptoms, check with your doctor How can you tell if you’re at high intensity? One way is before starting an exercise program or increasing your the talk test. During moderate activity, you should be activity level. He or she can tell you what types and able to talk but not sing. During vigorous activity, you amounts of activities are safe and suitable for you. won’t be able to say more than a few words at a time. High-intensity exercise has a higher risk of Interval training can be an efficient way to get results. musculoskeletal and cardiovascular injuries. Be sure to And if you turn it into a game, it can even be fun! So check with your doctor before adding it to your exercise with your doctor’s OK, consider pushing yourself a bit routine. on your next walk, run or ride. Interval training is not a daily program. Keep it to one or two workouts a week. More than that raises your chance of injury. And don’t do it more than about six weeks at a time. SOURCES: • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measuring physical activity One more caution: Be sure to allow enough active intensity. Accessed: 05/06/2013 recovery time. Pushing too hard can lead to injury. Make • American Council on Exercise. High-intensity interval training. your recovery time at least as long as your intense spurt. Accessed: 05/06/2013 • American Council on Exercise. Interval training. Accessed: 05/06/2013 • American College of Sports Medicine. For all-day metabolism boost, try Adding speed to your workout is just one way to interval interval training. Accessed: 05/06/2013 train. You could also: Copyright © 2014 myOptumHealth. • Add an incline. If you use a treadmill, raise the incline during your intense spurts. Or exercise on a hilly route outdoors.

4 Heart Health

DASH Diet to Lower Blood Pressure An eating plan rich in fruits, veggies and whole grains can help control hypertension.

Are you one of the millions of Americans with high blood pressure? You may think that managing it includes a life of boring foods and rigid self-discipline. Not so! You can have delicious meals and snacks that can actually help lower your blood pressure. High blood pressure, also called hypertension, makes your heart work harder than it should. It puts extra pressure on your blood vessels and organs. Research by the nation’s top scientists has shown that an eating plan called DASH can lower blood pressure. DASH is short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It focuses on adding tasty, nutrient-rich foods like fruits and vegetables. DASH isn’t just for people with high blood pressure. It’s an overall healthy, wholesome, high-fiber eating plan than can also help improve cholesterol levels. All of these healthy changes may help lower your risk for cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. So what IS the DASH eating plan?

DASH focuses on healthy foods commonly available at the grocery store. How much you should eat depends on how many calories you need each day. This amount is influenced by your age, gender and level of activity. DASH is high in vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products; whole grains, poultry, seafood (especially fatty fish) and nuts. It is low in red and processed meats, trans and saturated fats, sweets and sugary drinks. Sodium (salt) intake is known to contribute to high blood pressure. Adults who would benefit from lower blood pressure should consume no more than 2,400 mg per day of dietary sodium. Even more benefits can be seen when sodium is limited to 1,500 milligrams a day. Most Americans consume far more sodium than that, mostly from processed foods and eating out. If your current diet contains lots of sodium, start by cutting it by at least 1,000 mg a day. That should help bring your blood pressure

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DASH Diet to Lower Blood Pressure (continued)

down as you work toward more desirable levels. Check If you take medicines to control high blood pressure, the sodium content on Nutrition Facts labels and on don’t stop taking them. But tell your doctor that you’re restaurant menus and choose foods lower in sodium. following the DASH eating plan. Together you can monitor progress in your blood pressure as you make Fitting DASH into your lifestyle healthier food choices. Try to work more DASH foods into your meals. Add a variety of veggies SOURCES: to lunch or dinnertime salads and • U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary guidelines for Americans, soups. Snack on cut-up veggies. 2010. Accessed: 08/08/2014 Increase vegetable portions of • Eckel RH, Jakicic JM, Ard JD, et al. 2013 AHA/ACC guideline on casseroles while decreasing meat lifestyle management to reduce cardiovascular risk. Circulation. 2013; doi: 10.1161/01.cir.0000437740.48606.d1. Accessed: 08/08/2014 portions. Add beans and peas to • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sodium: The facts. salads, soups and casseroles. Accessed: 08/08/2014 Choose whole-grain versions of • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. What is the DASH eating plan? Accessed: 08/08/2014 breads, cereals and pastas. And go for Copyright © 2014 myOptumHealth. low-fat or fat-free dairy.

6 Major Risk Factors for Coronary Artery Disease Discover what makes you vulnerable to heart disease — and how to protect yourself from this leading cause of death.

In everyday life, you have a better chance of avoiding age, gender or family history of heart disease. Having danger if you know what it looks like. Understanding these risk factors doesn’t mean that you will develop what coronary artery disease (CAD) is and your risk CAD. Instead, try to lower the risk factors within your factors for it is no different. control. Coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart. What are the risk factors? Coronary artery disease occurs when a buildup called plaque sticks to the artery walls. Over time, the arteries Here are the six major controllable risk factors for narrow and can become blocked. The heart gets starved coronary artery disease: for oxygen. • Tobacco smoke. CAD is the leading cause of death in this country. A smoker’s risk of Still, many people don’t know they have it until they developing CAD is have chest pain or a heart attack. And less commonly, two to four times that sometimes people with CAD have no pain. of nonsmokers. If you have CAD, smoking Knowing your risk factors and taking steps to improve cigarettes can put your health may help delay or even prevent CAD. Some you at higher risk for risk factors are out of your control. Those include your sudden cardiac death.

6 Heart Health

6 Major Risk Factors for Coronary Artery Disease (continued)

This is a fatal heart attack where the heart stops beating. People who smoke cigars or pipes are also at higher risk for CAD. • High cholesterol levels. The higher your bad cholesterol and lower your good cholesterol, the greater your risk of CAD. Your doctor can check your cholesterol. He or she may recommend a diet and exercise program to help lower your levels. The doctor may also want you to take medicine. • Stop smoking, if you smoke. Ask your doctor for • High blood pressure. High blood pressure makes help with quitting. Avoid secondhand smoke. the heart work too hard. Over time, the heart muscle thickens and stiffens. High blood pressure combined • Eat a balanced, heart-friendly diet. Focus on foods with another risk factor like smoking, high cholesterol low in added sugars, solid fats, salt and refined grains. or obesity greatly raises the risk of heart attack. Eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy and lean proteins such as low-mercury seafood • Diabetes. With diabetes, the body either does not or skinless poultry. make enough insulin or does not use it properly. That results in high blood sugar (glucose) levels. An • Aim for a healthy weight. Work with your health estimated 65 percent of people with diabetes die from care team on a plan that will maximize your success. some form of coronary disease. If you have diabetes, • Get moving. Regular physical activity is good for it’s very important to follow your doctor’s instructions you. It can help lower your risk of CAD. and manage your blood sugar levels well. Note: If you are physically inactive or have a health • Excess weight. Even if you have no other risk condition such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, factors, carrying excess body fat puts you at greater pregnancy or other symptoms, check with your doctor risk for heart disease. Carrying your extra weight before starting an exercise program. He or she can tell at the waist further raises your risk. Other risk you what types of activities are safe and suitable for you. factors can be the direct result of obesity. If you’re overweight, you can lower your risk for CAD by losing as little as 10 percent of your current weight. • Physical inactivity. When you are physically active, SOURCES: you take an important step in lowering your risks for • National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute. What is coronary heart disease? Accessed: 08/06/2013 CAD. Moderate exercise or physical activity has a • National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute. What is sudden cardiac positive impact if done regularly over time. arrest? Accessed: 08/06/2013 • National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute. Exploring coronary How can you lower your risk? heart disease. Who is at risk for coronary heart disease? Accessed: 08/06/2013 Your heart will thank you if you do all that you can to Copyright © 2014 myOptumHealth. eliminate risk factors. Aim to:

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The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and not intended to be nor should be construed as medical advice. You should consult your own doctor © 2015 United HealthCare Services, Inc. to determine what may be right for you. UHCEW000000-000 1/15

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