February is Heart Month, a time to raise awareness about the importance of cardiovascular health and an opportunity to focus on what we can do to improve our heart health. Heart disease impacts almost all of us at some point in our lives, either indirectly or directly. It is the second leading cause of death for both men and women in Canada.

Prevention is key in reducing the risk of heart and cardiovascular disease. Adopting healthy habits such as staying physically active, maintaining a balanced diet, limiting highly processed foods, avoiding smoking, prioritizing quality sleep and managing stress can significantly support heart health and overall well-being.

This month is an excellent time to reflect and take steps to making positive and healthy choices for today and into the future. These choices can include taking small steps laid out in the 24-hour movement guidelines: Move more, reduce sedentary time and sleep well. Prioritizing daily movement, like a walk outside, is a great example. Eating a variety of healthy foods each day and scheduling regular appointments with a health care provider are also important for maintaining heart health. Healthy lifestyle choices combined with early detection and management of medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol can help you reduce your risk of heart disease.

Together, we can make healthy living a priority and work towards improving our cardiovascular health.

Throughout the month, we will be featuring our cardiac program teams at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, in recognition of their incredible work helping cardiac patients from across Northwestern Ontario.