Your heart has an important job in keeping your body running. It pumps blood through your circulatory system to nourish organs and tissues in the body. The right side of your heart sends blood to the lungs where it fills up with oxygen.

The heart is important because it pumps blood around your body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your cells and removing waste products. The heart has four chambers: two upper chambers called the right and left atria (singular: atrium) and two lower chambers called the right and left ventricles.

How to take care of your heart health

1. Eat a heart healthy diet.
2. If overweight, lose weight.
3. Increase regular physical activity to at least 2.5 hours per week.
4. Don’t use tobacco.
5. Avoid use of alcohol.
6. Have your blood pressure and blood sugar checked regularly.

To help prevent heart disease, you can:

• Eat healthy.
• Get active.
• Stay at a healthy weight.
• Quit smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke.
• Control your cholesterol and blood pressure.
• Drink alcohol only in moderation.
• Manage stress.

About half of all Americans (47%) have at least 1 of 3 key risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. Some risk factors for heart disease cannot be controlled, such as your age or family history.

Children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop heart disease themselves. African-Americans have more severe high blood pressure than Caucasians, and a higher risk of heart disease. Heart disease risk is also higher among Mexican-Americans, American Indians, native Hawaiians and some Asian-Americans.

There are five important heart disease risk factors that you can control. A poor diet, high blood pressure and cholesterol, stress, smoking and obesity are factors shaped by your lifestyle and can be improved through behavior modifications. Risk factors that cannot be controlled include family history, age and gender.

The “controllable” risk factors are:

• Smoking.
• High blood pressure.
• High blood cholesterol.
• High blood sugar (diabetes)
• Obesity and overweight.
• Obesity and Overweight.
• Physical inactivity.
• Stress.

Fortunately, there are many things you can do to reduce your chances of getting heart disease:

1. Control your blood pressure.
2. Keep your cholesterol and triglyceride levels under control.
3. Stay at a healthy weight.
4. Eat a healthy diet.
5. Get regular exercise.
6. Limit alcohol.
7. Don’t smoke.
8. Manage stress.

Foods That Are Bad for Your Heart

• Sugar, Salt, Fat. Over time, high amounts of salt, sugar, saturated fat, and refined carbs raise your risk for a heart attack or stroke.
• Bacon.
• Red Meat.
• Soda.
• Baked Goods.
• Processed Meats.
• White Rice, Bread, and Pasta.
• Pizza.

Chest pain, chest tightness, chest pressure and chest discomfort (angina) Shortness of breath. Pain, numbness, weakness or coldness in your legs or arms if the blood vessels in those parts of your body are narrowed. Pain in the neck, jaw, throat, upper abdomen or back.