Heart Health Archive

Most people with heart conditions can safely play sports if their condition is well managed. Exercise should be reintroduced gradually, and the intensity should be tailored to the individual. Monitoring for warning signs can reduce the risk while preserving the heart health benefits.

The thyroid gland releases hormones that affect the heart. Too little thyroid hormone slows the heart rate and may boost blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while too much can trigger abnormal heart rhythms and high blood pressure.

Learn to manage your triglyceride levels to avoid having a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also called broken-heart syndrome, is a weakening of the left ventricle that is usually the result of severe stress. Its symptoms resemble those of a heart attack, and treatment is usually the same as that for heart failure.

Exercise can lower resting heart rate and raise maximum heart rate to reduce the risk of heart attack and death.

When it comes to managing blood pressure, doctors tend to focus on lowering the top (systolic) number, but the bottom (diastolic) number also plays an essential role in heart health. Diastolic pressure is the pressure during the resting phase between heartbeats, and helps coronary vessels supply oxygen to the heart muscle. It's important to keep both blood pressure numbers low per guidelines, but research suggests the diastolic number should not fall too low.

Making plaque disappear is not possible, but it is possible to shrink and stabilize it. Drugs called statins can help with this, and so can eating a heart-healthy diet, exercising, and quitting smoking.

The 2026 lipid guidelines explain how people can estimate and lower their risk of a heart attack. They include information about tools and tests, updated targets for LDL (bad) cholesterol, and advice about lifestyle changes and medications.

Pain in the chest sometimes is a symptom of heart disease. But heart problems aren't always obvious. Fatigue, unexplained aches and pains, shortness of breath, swollen feet or ankles, and heart palpitations may also indicate heart trouble.

Sometimes swollen feet are a red flag for an underlying vascular, bone-related, or skin-related health condition.