The five-point heart healthy lifestyle

  • Lionel H. Opie Hatter Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory Cape Town
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24170/8-3-1894

Abstract

The “Lifestyle Big-Five” are, in order of importance, nonsmoking, daily exercise for 30 min or more, a body mass index of 25 or less, the ideal diet  and last and least, modest alcohol. This lifestyle is associated with a pattern of maximal freedom from cardiovascular disease, stroke and with improved longevity. The major data supporting the “Lifestyle Big-Five” chiefly come from the results of the Nurses’ Health Study over 26 years and the Health Professionals Study over 20 years, both in the USA. Both these studies are supported by several large European studies including one that by computer randomly recruited a selected population. Apart from the evidence for non-smoking, which is already well-established and well-known, each of the other four components are evaluated in this review, with recommendations for application to patients. SAHeart 2011; 8:154-163
Published
2017-04-05
Issue
Vol. 8 No. 3 (2011): Winter
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2017 SA Heart Journal

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.

Authors may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers. 

A copy of the authors’ publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:

  • Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
  • Institutional webpage.
  • Authors Institutional Repository. 

The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: “This is an electronic version of an article published in SAHJ, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX–XXX”, DOI.  Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAHJ) may be found. 

Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University’s’ Institutional Repository SUNScholar.

Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.

Copyright Holder: SA Heart Journal

The following license applies:

Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0