Smart at Heart: A Holistic 10-Step Approach to Preventing and Healing Heart Disease for Women

If you are one of the millions of women who has been diagnosed with heart disease or are at risk for developing it, you might be surprised to learn that simple life changes will profoundly affect your health. According to a revolutionary study by Harvard-trained cardiologist Malissa Wood, true cardiovascular health must address the whole heart--its physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects.
 
Dr. Wood’s findings form the basis of Smart at Heart, a breakthrough mind-body approach to preventing and healing heart disease by strengthening the ten “bridges” that create total heart health. By exploring these ten key areas of your life, you can fight heart disease. For example, while exercise and nutrition are known to improve cardiac health (and make up two of the bridges), Dr. Wood’s study also shows how small changes to your environment, the way you communicate, or how you handle stress has a big effect on your heart. So something as commonplace as clearing out the clutter from your home can positively change not only your emotions, but also your physical well-being.
 
Heart disease is a serious diagnosis and if you are at risk, there’s a lot you can do to improve your own health. Smart at Heart empowers you with the solutions you need--backed up by science--to create a healthy, whole heart.

MALISSA WOOD, MD, is the codirector of the Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. She sits on the board of the Northeast affiliate of the American Heart Association.

DIMITY McDOWELL, a health and fitness writer, has been a contributing editor at Shape and Women’s Health. She is the coauthor of Run Like a Mother.

Visit drmalissawood.blogspot.com.