Test your heart health IQ

The first step to protecting your heart is getting empowered. This quiz will put your knowledge to the test.

1. The leading cause of death in women is:
a) Breast cancer
b) Heart disease
c) Lung cancer

ANSWER: b. Heart disease kills more than 400,000 women a year, yet more than 40 percent of women don’t know it’s their leading health threat by far, according to a new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. In comparison, breast cancer claims about 40,000 women’s lives each year, and lung cancer nearly 70,000.

2. One of the best ways to ward off heart disease is to:
a) Take a walk on most days of the week.
b) Use aromatherapy.
c) Take it easy.

ANSWER: a. Getting moderate exercise on most days of the week is crucial for heart health because it helps keep your weight in check and reduces your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, all of which can lead to heart disease.

3. You can reduce your risk of heart failure, a condition in which your heart can’t pump enough blood to the rest of your body, by:
a) Lowering your blood pressure
b) Losing weight
c) Not smoking
d) All of the above

ANSWER: d. Having high blood pressure, smoking and being overweight can increase the size of the heart, raising the risk of heart failure.

4. If you’ve smoked for a long time, quitting won’t reduce your heart disease risk.
a) True
b) False

ANSWER: b. False—Quitting smoking reverses heart and blood vessel damage. In fact, after one year living smoke-free, your heart attack risk is cut in half, according to the American Heart Disease Association. Ten years after you kick the habit, your risk of heart disease is the same as a person who never smoked.

5. Which of the following counts toward your goal of getting at least 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week?
a) Gardening
b) Walking the dog
c) Cleaning your house
d) Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
e) All of the above

ANSWER: e. You don’t have to do hard-core workouts to improve your heart health. Even 10-minute exercise sessions can be beneficial. For more ideas on what counts as "active living," click here.

6. Which type of fat is it most important to avoid for your heart health?
1. Saturated fat
2. Trans fat
3. Monounsaturated fat
4. Polyunsaturated fat

ANSWER: b. Trans fat. It is generally accepted that trans fats have no nutritional value. What’s more, multiple studies have shown that they increase LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol. Try to avoid foods that include hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fat in the list of ingredients, sticking to consuming fewer than 2 gram a day.

Score outputs:

0-1 correct: You urgently need to learn more about heart health. There are likely a number of things that you can do to help support your own cardiovascular health. Read the articles on this site to learn more.

2-4 correct: You have a good starting knowledge of heart health. Read some more of the articles on this site to learn what you can do to help improve the way you live, exercise, and eat—and most important, support your own heart health.

5-6 correct: Congratulations: You know your heart health! Make sure you make it count, and do what you know to be best for your heart health.