Small lifestyle changes, like eating a balanced diet, reducing salt intake, and staying active, can make a big difference in not only managing symptoms, but improving your overall health.
Healthy Living with Heart Failure
"I'm one of those people that's like, hey, I can't run anymore. Great, I hate running. But there's other things I can do in a healthy way to maintain a healthy heart that doesn't have to be pushing it too hard. And there's a lot of power in backing off. There's a lot of power in doing something else that doesn't push so hard." - Elise Jones, Patient Advocate and Founder of Utah Yoga & Wellness
Listen to the Full Podcast Episode of Healthy Living with Heart Failure >>
Being Mindful of Your Nutrition
Nutrition is vital to heart health and that is especially true for those living with heart failure. Watching salt consumption and fluid intake is necessary to prevent the heart from having to work harder than it needs to.
View HFSA's Heart Healthy Recipe Guide >>
Be Patient - Progress Takes Time
Heart failure affects everyone differently, and it’s important for patients to be patient with their own journey. Comparing progress to others can be discouraging, as treatment responses, lifestyle adjustments, and recovery times vary from person to person. Small steps forward matter, and with time and the right care, meaningful improvements can happen.
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Other Resources
Patient Focus: A Prescription to Move. An Explanation of The Effectiveness of Lifestyle Interventions in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis
Lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, can help patients with symptoms from HFpEF to improve how they feel and how much activity they can do. This study shows that HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is the most effective lifestyle change, but LIT (low-intensity exercise training) can also help, especially when combined with a low-calorie diet. That both HIIT and LIT can help in HFpEF is important, because some patients may not be able to do HIIT due to other health problems or weakness. For these patients, LIT such as walking can also be helpful. For more information about exercise for patients who have HF, view this HFSA Heart Failure Patient Education Module.
My Journey as a Sick Heart Failure Patient
"I felt frustrated and mad that I wasn't getting better, but I realized I was rushing myself. Ultimately things improved. I pushed myself to walk every day until I was finally discharged from the hospital. I was surprised that I survived, and that I have now been able to recover to the point that I am living healthier and better than ever before." - James Ellis, Heart Failure Patient