Editor's recommendation: Take it easy on the weekend: The American Heart Association believes that healthy sleep is crucial to cardiovascular health, and has added it to the 8 elements of life to measure heart health: Let's see what changes?
The American Heart Association includes sleep on its cardiovascular health list.
The American Heart Association has updated its checklist for measuring cardiovascular health. It's now called 8 Factors for Life and promotes healthy sleep as a necessity for optimal cardiovascular health. The other health and lifestyle elements in the
list are the previous 7 and include physical activity, weight, nicotine exposure, diet, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.
's new sleep metrics show that 7-9 hours of sleep per day is optimal for cardiovascular health in adults, and longer in children, depending on age.
's updated score is now available for ages 2 and older and measures four of its components in new ways: new guidelines for assessing diet; nicotine exposure replacing smoking, including e-cigarettes (vaping) and second-hand smoke exposure; recommendations Replace total cholesterol with non-HDL cholesterol ; blood glucose measurement range expanded to include glycosylated hemoglobin level detection.
Life's Essential 8 can be evaluated by the "My Life Check" online tool, and the scoring system has been updated based on the average score for each health and lifestyle factor, out of a possible 100-point score.
The American Heart Association's 8 Elements of Life Chart is a wheel shape with 8 wedges representing the 8 elements necessary for cardiovascular health.
Sleep duration is now considered an important component of ideal heart and brain health. The "8 Elements of Life Cardiovascular Health Score" replaced the original 7 elements. The report was published on June 29, 2022 in the American Heart Association's flagship peer-reviewed journal "Circulation".
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and globally. According to the association's 2022 heart disease and stroke statistics update, approximately 121.5 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, 100 million have obesity, and more than 28 million have type 2 diabetes, with only four One in 10 adults reported meeting the physical activity and exercise recommendations in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition. Various studies over the past 20 years have shown that more than 80% of cardiovascular events can be prevented through healthy lifestyle and management of known cardiovascular risk factors.
Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., president of the American Heart Association, said: "The new measure of sleep duration reflects the latest research findings that sleep affects overall health and that people with healthier sleep patterns more effectively manage health factors such as weight. , blood pressure, or risk of developing type 2 diabetes. “Additionally, advances in measuring sleep patterns, such as wearable devices, now allow people to reliably monitor their sleep habits at home,”
was first defined by the association in 2010. 7 Indicators of Cardiovascular Health to identify the specific health behaviors and health factors that drive optimal heart and brain health. The relationship between brain health and cardiovascular health was defined in the 2017 American Heart Association Presidential Advisory Report. The association further recognized it as an important component of optimal cardiovascular health in its January 2021 Scientific Statement on the Mind-Heart-Body Connection. The findings from both papers have been incorporated into Life's Essential 8.
After 12 years of research and more than 2,400 scientific papers on the subject, new findings in heart and brain health and ways to measure cardiovascular health provide an opportunity to review each component of health in more detail. Four original metrics have been redefined for consistency with new clinical guidelines or compatibility with new measurement tools. Additionally, the scoring system can now be applied to anyone ages 2 and up.
The 8-factor component of life for optimal cardiovascular health can be divided into two main areas - health behaviors and health factors. Health behaviors include diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, and sleep. Health factors include body mass index, cholesterol levels, blood sugar and blood pressure."The idea of optimal cardiovascular health is important because it provides people with positive goals at any stage of life," Jones said.
"The original 7 Simple Essentials for Life has proven to be a powerful tool, can help us understand how to achieve healthy aging and how to improve cardiovascular health while reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, dementia and many other chronic diseases." "Taking into account evolving research, address. Some limitations of the original measures are important, particularly the way they were used with people from different races and ethnicities. "Some previous measures, such as diet, were not as sensitive to differences between people, or to individuals. Individuals are less sensitive to changes over time. "We believe now is an appropriate time to conduct a comprehensive review of the latest research to refine existing indicators and consider any new indicators to assess cardiovascular health for all people."
The new version of 8 Essentials for Life includes:
Diet ( Updated)
New guidelines for assessing dietary quality in adults and children at the individual level (for personal care and dietary counselling) and at the group level (for research and public health purposes).
At the population level, dietary assessment is based on the daily intake of elements in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern. The DASH dietary score includes eight components: increased intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, and reduced intake of sodium, red and processed meats, and sugary drinks.
For individuals, the Mediterranean Eating Pattern for Americans (MEPA) is used to assess and monitor cardiovascular health. MEPA is a DASH-style eating pattern that uses 16 yes or no questions to measure the frequency of weekly consumption of olive oil, vegetables, berries, meat, fish, dairy, grains, and more. MEPA screening does not include consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, so clinicians are encouraged to ask during their assessment.
Physical activity (no change)
According to the definition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, Second Edition, physical activity is measured by the total number of minutes per week of moderate or vigorous physical activity. Optimal levels are 150 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity per week for adults or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week for adults; 420 minutes or more per week for children 6 years and older; and varying ages for younger children Modifications.
Nicotine exposure (updated)
Since the previous measurement indicator only monitored traditional combustible cigarettes, the new standard adds nicotine delivery systems including e-cigarettes or e-cigarette devices for inhalation. This reflects use by adults and youth and its impact on long-term health. 8 Factors for Life also covers secondhand smoke exposure in children and adults.
Sleep Duration (New)
Sleep duration is linked to cardiovascular health. Measured in terms of average sleep time per night, the ideal sleep time for adults is 7-9 hours per day. The ideal amount of sleep for children 5 and under is 10-16 hours per 24 hours, 9-12 hours for ages 6-12, and 8-10 hours for ages 13-18.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
The reporting team acknowledges that Body Mass Index (BMI) is an imperfect measure, but it is easy to calculate and widely used; therefore BMI remains a reasonable measure of weight categories that may cause health problems index. People with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 have the highest levels of cardiovascular health. BMI ranges and their associated health risks may differ among people of different racial or ethnic backgrounds or ancestry. This is consistent with World Health Organization recommendations to adjust the BMI range for Asian or Pacific Islander people because recent evidence suggests that their risk of cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes is greater at lower BMI levels.
Lipids (updated)
Lipid indicators (cholesterol and triglycerides ) updated to use non- HDL cholesterol as the preferred monitoring number instead of total cholesterol. HDL is the "good" cholesterol. Other forms of cholesterol, when elevated, are associated with cardiovascular disease risk.This shift occurs because non-HDL cholesterol can be measured without fasting (thus increasing its availability for detection at any time of day) and calculated reliably in all people .
Blood Glucose (updated)
This metric has been expanded to include glycated hemoglobin A1c readings and blood glucose levels. glycosylated hemoglobin can better reflect long-term blood sugar control.
Blood pressure (no change)
Blood pressure standards remain unchanged from the Association's 2017 guidelines, which set blood pressure below 120/80 mmHg as optimal and hypertension defined as systolic blood pressure 130-139 mmHg (high pressure) or diastolic blood pressure 80-89 mmHg (low pressure).
Each component of Life's Essential 8 can be assessed by the My Life Check tool, and the scoring system has been updated to evaluate the average of 8 health indicator scores, with a total score ranging from 0 to 100 points. A total score below 50 indicates "poor" cardiovascular health, and a score of 50-79 is considered "moderate" cardiovascular health. A score of 80 and above indicates "high" cardiovascular health. The recommendation recommends measuring cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, height and weight at least every five years to get the most complete and accurate 8-factor score of life. The
reporting team also reviewed data on stress, mental health and the impact of social determinants of health, such as access to health care, income or education levels, and structural racism, which are critical to understanding the foundations of health, particularly To people from diverse racial and ethnic populations. "In our update, we carefully considered the social determinants of health and identified the need for more research on these components to determine future measurement and inclusion," emphasized Dr.
Jones. "Social and structural determinants as well as Mental health and well-being are key and fundamental factors in maintaining and improving cardiovascular health. We must consider and address all of these issues to give people the opportunity to live a well-rounded, healthy life as measured by the Life 8 Factors. Elements are a major advance in helping us identify how to protect cardiovascular health and when it is sub-optimal."
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