CLEVELAND CLINIC’S 2026 HEART SURVEY REVEALS WHAT WE DO AND DON’T KNOW ABOUT HOW OUR HEART AGES
Every February, in honor of American Heart Month, Parade's longtime partners at the Cleveland Clinic share the results of a survey on the state of heart health in the United States. Their findings reveal what knowledge gaps we have, risky behaviors we may be unknowingly engaging in and how certain technologies and medications are actually impacting us.
This year, their focus is on how the heart ages. This is a topic near and dear to Parade readers, who work hard to keep their bodies in the best possible shape as they age while doing everything they can to prevent chronic disease.
1,273 adults were surveyed, and some of the results were surprising. “One of the main things we saw is that a lot of people who took the survey didn’t realize that they have risk factors for heart disease," Cleveland Clinic cardiologistDr. Ashish Sarraju, MD, tells Parade. "There’s still a surprising lack of awareness, according to the survey, about even things that we might think are obvious at this point, like smoking."
This speaks to the importance of physicians and people in public health not assuming that everybody knows the standard risk factors for heart disease, Dr. Sarraju continues. "They should use every opportunity when you interact with a patient to reinforce what they might think are the most basic risk factors."
Below, we get into what the survey results found regarding what people do and don't know about risk factors for heart disease—and what lifestyle changes we can make to keep our hearts in tip-top shape well into old age.
🩺SIGN UP for Parade’s health newsletter with expert-approved tips, healthy eats, exercises, news & more to help you stay healthy & feel your best self💊
1 in 4 Americans Don’t Know if They’re at Increased Risk for Heart Disease
24% of Americans don't know if they're at risk for heart disease, but most of them (69%) have factors associated with increased risk. These include:
- High blood pressure (31%)
- High cholesterol (24%)
- Family history (23%)
- Obesity (20%)
- Poor diet (18%)
- Sedentary lifestyle (17%)
- Daily unmanaged stress (16%)
- Sleep apnea (15%)
- Smoking (14%)
- Diabetes (13%)
Further, most adults think of longevity as sustained physical and mental health later in life, and they don’t see it as something that’s out of reach for most people. To them, longevity means staying physically active and mobile as they age, maintaining cognitive health and mental sharpness and lowering the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease.
Related: Cardiologists Are Begging People To Stop Ignoring This Important Cholesterol Number
70% of Americans Believe the Heart Physically Peaks in Their 20s or 30s
While the majority of Americans do believe heart health is optimal when they're younger, 95% say there are things a person in their current stage of life can do to increase their longevity and reduce the risk of heart disease.
And they're right about that. According to Dr. Sarraju, the American Heart Association has a framework called Life's Essential 8. "It addresses eight very basic, fundamental risk factors for heart disease, starting with diet and exercise," he says. "For example, eating a heart-healthy, Mediterranean-style diet, exercising for 150 minutes at a moderate intensity level per week (or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise per week) and strength training two or three times per week."
Sleep is another important (and often overlooked) one. "You want to try to get seven to eight hours of good quality sleep," Dr. Sarraju says. "It's important to work on good routines or sleep hygiene to get that under control. And along with those risk factors, it's important to visit your physician to make sure other risk factors you may not know about are also controlled. Those include cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, controlling your weight and of course, avoiding smoking."
If we try to hit a perfect score on controlling at least these risk factors, he explains, "you're going to do a tremendous job of controlling your risk for heart disease as you age and improving quality of life."
Related: The Heart-Healthy Habit Cardiologists Say Most People Quit Way Too Soon
Many Americans Are Unaware of Factors That Impact Heart Disease Risk
As discussed above, 34% of survey respondents are unaware that smoking greatly increases a person’s risk of heart disease. Other numbers stand out, too: 44% of people are unaware that physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease, and 71% are unaware that a woman’s risk of heart disease increases after menopause.
Related: This Is Hands Down the Worst Food for Artery Health, a Cardiologist Warns
"With menopause, there’s a higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome," Dr. Sarraju explains. "This means high triglycerides, more weight gain, higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels that may go up."
And, he says, the hormonal changes associated with menopause lead to a higher risk of heart disease overall. "So when you’re in that perimenopausal or post-menopausal period, it's important to keep an eye on these risk factors if you weren’t before. Make sure you know that whatever treatment strategy you were using for these risk factors before menopause may need to be updated after menopause to overcome the biological changes you’re making."
Up Next:
Sources
- Dr. Ashish Sarraju, MD, cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic
- Life's Essential 8. The American Heart Association
