Living With Heart Failure

You can feel better when you have heart failure by taking your medicines as directed, having a healthy lifestyle, and avoiding things that make heart failure worse. To find out the things you can do every day, what to watch for, and when to call a doctor, see:

Quick Tips: Self-Care for Heart Failure

Taking medicines

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

  Heart Failure: Taking Medicines Properly.

• Try to avoid medicines that can make your heart failure worse. For more information, see:

  Heart Failure: Avoiding Medicines That Make Symptoms Worse.

• Take a low-dose aspirin every day if your doctor advises it to prevent a stroke or heart attack. But higher doses of aspirin may make your heart failure worse. So talk to your doctor first about how much to take.

Having a healthy lifestyle

• Limit sodium.

  Heart Failure: Eating Less Salt

  Low-Salt Diets: Eating Out

• Exercise regularly. If you aren't already active, your doctor may want you to start exercising. You could do it in a program or on your own. Try to do activities that raise your heart rate. Aim for at least 2½ hours of moderate exercise a week. One way to do this is to be active at least 10 minutes 3 times a day, 5 days a week. You can start slowly if you haven't exercised much before. For more information, see the topic Cardiac Rehabilitation. For information on starting and staying with an exercise program, see:

  Heart Failure: Activity and Exercise.

• Check your weight at the same time every day. For information, see:

  Heart Failure: Checking Your Weight.

• Try to lose weight if you are overweight. Eating a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly will help you lose weight. Even a few pounds can make a difference.
• Stop smoking. Smoking increases your risk for heart disease and makes it harder to exercise. Avoid secondhand smoke too. For more information, see Quitting Smoking.
• Avoidtoo much alcohol. This means drinking no more than 2 drinks a day for men and 1 drink a day for women.
• Limit your fluids if needed. For information, see:

  Heart Failure: Watching Your Fluids.

• Oxygen treatment. Your doctor may recommend oxygen therapy to reduce your shortness of breath and increase your ability to exercise.