Buzz
To lower your risk of premature death from heart disease or stroke, you’ve likely come across common advice: increase physical activity, consume healthy fats, and monitor heart-related stats on your wearable devices. However, with so many recommendations for heart health, it can be challenging to know where to begin.
Thankfully, the American Heart Association offers a tool that organizes your personal and lifestyle risks into eight key areas. Previously, the AHA used a seven-point system, but they’ve recently introduced an updated version titled “Life’s Essential 8,” which now includes sleep as a critical factor. An online assessment simplifies the process of evaluating your current health status.
The areas they evaluate are as follows:
Sleep. Adults need seven to nine hours nightly, while children require even more.
Nicotine exposure. Previously focused on smoking, this now includes nicotine vapes as well.
Physical activity. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise (such as walking, which qualifies), or vigorous exercise, which counts twice as much. Children should engage in an hour of activity daily.
Diet. A heart-healthy diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and fish.
Weight. While the AHA recognizes BMI’s limitations, it’s used here as a straightforward metric for assessing body composition. A BMI below 25 is considered favorable for heart health.
Blood glucose. You’ll need to provide your latest fasting blood glucose or hemoglobin A1c results, which reflect long-term blood sugar levels.
Cholesterol. This includes both total and non-HDL cholesterol measurements.
Blood pressure. The ideal target is below 128/80.
For a quick overview of your heart health, you can scan this list and identify areas needing improvement. For a deeper analysis, visit the My Life Check tool (free but requires registration) and complete the questionnaire.
Most questions are simple, but the diet section made me pause. How many vegetable servings do I eat weekly? How many do I actually consume? (Similar questions cover fruits, beans, red meats, fish/seafood, butter, and sweets.) I estimated my answers and proceeded. Calculating my weekly exercise minutes also took some effort.
A drawback of this tool is its requirement for cholesterol and blood glucose values. Without these on hand, I had to input approximate figures to advance.
After completing the assessment, you receive a score between 0 and 100. My score was 93.8, which is quite good—my estimated lab values must have been favorable! The eight factors are categorized under two headings: areas to “improve” and achievements to “celebrate.” For instance, since I don’t smoke and am highly active, those were marked as celebrations. However, my diet, likely too heavy on sweets and light on veggies, was flagged for improvement.
The AHA states that the average American scores around 65. Scores below 50 indicate “poor” heart health, while scores above 80 are considered “high.”
While online quizzes shouldn’t dictate major life choices, they can help prioritize health goals. You might be obsessing over vegetable choices while overlooking critical factors like quitting smoking or improving sleep. Try this tool to identify where to focus your efforts.
