Heart Failure

Your attitude and level of participation in your treatment can strongly impact how you feel. Taking care of yourself will help you feel better and improve your health so that you can enjoy life. Taking your medicines as directed, controlling your diet, and getting regular exercise are lifestyle changes that are key to controlling heart failure symptoms and preventing sudden heart failure.

• Limit sodium intake. Your doctor also may want you to monitor your fluid intake.

  Heart failure: Eating less salt

  Low-salt diets: Eating out

  Heart failure: Watching your fluids

• Take your medicines as directed. If you don't, your heart failure may get worse, or you may develop sudden heart failure. For more information, see:

  Heart failure: Taking medicines properly.

• Try to avoid nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), such as ibuprofen, and be careful using nonprescription medicines because they may make your heart failure worse. For more information, see:

  Heart failure: Avoiding medicines that make symptoms worse.

• Your doctor may advise you to take a low-dose aspirin every day to prevent a stroke or heart attack. But higher doses of aspirin may make your heart failure worse.
• Exercise regularly. If you aren't already active, your doctor may want you to begin an exercise program. Exercise programs can help you be more active. Try to do activities that raise your heart rate. Aim for at least 2½ hours a week of moderate exercise.⁶ One way to do this is to be active at least 10 minutes 3 times a day, 5 days a week. For more information, see the topic Cardiac Rehabilitation. For information on starting and maintaining an exercise program, see:

  Heart failure: Activity and exercise.

• Try to lose weight if you are overweight. Eating a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly should naturally help you lose weight.
• Stop smoking, because smoking increases your risk for heart disease and makes it more difficult to exercise. Avoid secondhand smoke too.
• Avoid overuse of alcohol. Moderate drinking means no more than 2 drinks a day for men and 1 drink a day for women.
• Try some tips for easier breathing.
• Monitor your weight. For information on ways to check your weight, see:

  Heart failure: Checking your weight.

• Avoid respiratory infections. Stay up to date on vaccinations for flu and pneumonia.
• Avoid triggers for sudden heart failure. For more information, see:

  Heart failure: Avoiding triggers for sudden heart failure.

Throughout the course of your heart failure, you may need to cope with both physical limitations and emotional issues that affect your ability to lead an active life.

Because heart failure is a lifelong condition, you will have dozens—perhaps even hundreds—of appointments with various health professionals during your experience with the disease. Learning how to work with health professionals who are treating your heart failure will benefit you by allowing them to better control your symptoms and tailor your treatment to your own needs.

Many hospitals and insurers have disease management (DM) programs to help people learn about their heart failure and reduce the overall cost for medical care.

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