Today's Health Tips

Three Numbers to Know to Prevent Heart Disease

The equation for a healthy heart is pretty simple: all you need to know are three numbers to help prevent heart disease.

By Diana Rodriguez

Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH

If you're active and you feel healthy, you may think you've got plenty of time before you have to start worrying about medical issues like heart disease.



But don't assume that you have a healthy heart just because you haven't been diagnosed with heart disease. 

The beginnings of heart disease could be present in your body even if you feel well.

To know whether you’re at risk, you need to know three numbers: your cholesterol, your blood pressure, and your waist circumference.


Cholesterol Numbers

High cholesterol puts you at risk for heart disease and other cardiovascular problems, such as stroke. Cholesterol is often reported as a single number referred to as “total cholesterol”. But there are both bad and good forms of cholesterol. The bad kind — LDL cholesterol — flows through your blood and sticks to the inside your blood vessels, forming plaques and making it tough for blood to flow freely and get to your heart and brain. The good cholesterol — HDL — can help to minimize this damage. Your levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol are more important than your total cholesterol level.

If your total cholesterol is too high — above 200 mg/dL — you also need to know your LDL cholesterol level. Your LDL cholesterol should ideally be below 100 mg/dL, says C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, spokesperson for the American College of Cardiology and director of the Women's Heart Center and the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. And you want your HDL cholesterol to be as high as possible; 60 mg/dL or higher is the most protective level for your heart.


Blood Pressure Numbers

High blood pressure can make your arteries rigid instead of flexible, which can also restrict blood flow to essential areas such as your heart and brain. When your blood pressure numbers go up, you're at an increased risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack or stroke.

Ideally, you want your blood pressure numbers at 120/80 or below. Prehypertension is considered anything above that level up to 139/89, and full-blown hypertension is 140/90 and up. If you fall into these categories, it's time to take action to help prevent heart disease.


Waist Size


You may already know that obesity is a major risk factor for heart disease — and it's a huge problem in the United States. If you carry your weight in your belly (think of a body shape like an apple), you're at an even greater risk. Women should have a waist circumference of no more than 35 inches, while men need to stay below 40 inches. Above those measurements, heart disease risk rises.


Keeping Tabs on Your Numbers


Knowing your heart-health numbers is one of the first steps in preventing heart disease.
While you may know if your waist size is getting too large, high cholesterol and high blood pressure usually don’t cause symptoms. So it’s important to have these numbers checked regularly by a family physician. If the numbers start creeping up, your doctor can advise whether you need to take medication.

The best option to prevent heart disease is to keep your heart numbers in control before they get too high. And monitoring these numbers regularly is key to a healthy heart.

Last Updated: 01/18/2011

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