About Heart Failure

Home     Normal Heart     Heart Failure     Causes     Diagnosis     Treatment     Living with Heart Failure     When to Call your Doctor     Prevention     Blog     Español      
Alcohol and Tobacco
Weight and Exercise
Low Salt Diet
Vaccines
 

Alcohol 

 

Excessive alcohol intake can damage your heart. Try to limit alcohol consumption to one drink

 

per day or stop drinking. it and avoid drugs. Alcohol increases the amount of fat in your blood; it

 

can also cause high blood pressure and stroke. The American Heart Association

 

americanheart.org  recommends that if you drink to do it in moderation. Men should not have

 

more than one to two drinks per day and women should limit their alcohol intake to one drink per

 

day. Talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks of drinking alcohol.

 

            1 drink= 12 oz. beer

                            

                             1 drink= 4 oz. of wine

                            

                             1 drink= 1.5 oz of 80-proof spirits, or 1 oz. of 100-proof spirits 

 

If you or a loved one needs help to stop drinking visit the following links: 

 

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIH http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/

 

Alcoholics Anonymous AA http://www.aa.org

 

 

 

 

Smoking

 

Smoking causes narrowing of your blood vessels; it also increases your heart rate and blood

 

pressure making your heart work harder. Nicotine worsens your heart failure, if you smoke, stop

 

now. There are a number of public and private organizations dedicated to help people to quit

 

smoking. For your convenience we included links to some of these organizations.

 

 

Smoking: It's Never Too Late To Stop NIH

 

http://www.niapublications.org/agepages/smoking.asp                                    

 

American Cancer Society http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

 

American Lung Association http://www.lungusa.org/