Every website, magazine, and even Doctor seems to have a general list of “Tips” for preventing cardiovascular problems. According to an article on WebMD, the American Heart Association suggests that the best “tip” for controlling and/or preventing heart disease is to personalize your approach rather than blindly following a general guideline.

One member of the team that released this finding said, “We need to do a better job finding ways to help people not only change their behaviors, but maintain them over a lifetime. As health care providers, we’re pretty good at saying that you are at risk for a disease, you need to lose weight, be more physically active, and eat more fruits and vegetables. While that’s easy to say, it’s not easy for the person to actually translate it into their everyday life.”

Here are some suggestions for easily integrating positive behavioral changes into your everyday life:

• Set realistic dietary and exercise goals

• Keep track of progress toward goals
• One-to-one counseling, which provides customized support to implementing and maintaining lifestyle changes
• Participate in small groups who share the same health-improvement goals
• See a health care provider that uses motivational interview techniques to encourage patients
• Seek counseling on how to manage setbacks
• Maintain recurring follow-up visits with doctors to update them on your progress and discuss concerns

Many more Americans are surviving cardiac arrests these days, especially compared to twenty years ago. Yet women and African-Americans are still more likely to die from cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest is the abrupt loss of heart function and about 300,000 Americans a year experience a sudden cardiac arrest. What is the most horrifying aspect of a cardiac arrest is that it can happen to anyone at any age.

Studies were conducted over 500,000 cases of cardiac arrest from 1988 to 2007. It shows the death rate dropped from 68% in 1988-1992 to 57% in 2003-2007. However, women were 20% more likely to die from a cardiac arrest and African-Americans were 12% more likely than whites. This was still evident even after other risk factors such as other medical condition were taken to account.

What the study did not convey was why women and African-American had a higher mortality rate. Experts speculate lack of medical services such as suffering an arrest while alone can contribute to the rates. The best way to combat this is to educate people on how to recognize the signs of an arrest.

The two signs of cardiac arrest are:

• Sudden Loss of Responsiveness
• No Normal Breathing