Medical Evaluation A complete evaluation helps the rehabilitation team assess your physical abilities, medical condition, the presence of other medical conditions, and your psychological needs. The rehabilitation team uses this information to develop an individualized rehabilitation program that is safe and effective for you. Lifestyle Education Just like other risk factors, your lifestyle can affect your health. Especially if you have heart disease, a poor lifestyle will put you in a worse position. Eating a balanced diet and breaking bad habits can promote your overall health, reduce heart attacks and lower the risk of other cardiovascular complications such as strokes. A healthy diet is the first step in improving your lifestyle. For heart patients, your daily salt intake should be 6g or less, and you should limit foods high in saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. In addition to diet, body image is also important. Doctors usually use the body mass index (BMI) to evaluate whether you are in the right size. bmi = weight/height2, and the World Health Organization defines a standard weight as a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2. above this range, it is time to start losing weight. Cardiac rehabilitation can also help you give up bad habits, such as smoking. Continuing to smoke greatly increases your risk of having another heart attack or even death. Instead, moderate alcohol consumption is allowed, i.e., 30g per day for men and 15g per day for women. As a heart patient, your blood pressure needs to drop to at least <140/90mmHg, with additional benefits if you can get it down to below 130/80mmHg. For patients who already have coronary artery disease and/or comorbid diabetes, lipid levels need to be more tightly controlled than normal (see table below). Supervised exercise Decades ago, patients with severe heart disease were asked to remain on bed rest for weeks, after which doctors began recommending that patients do minutes of exercise. Research now concludes that exercise is good for the heart, even in a damaged heart. Exercise has many important benefits. It increases blood flow to the heart and strengthens the contraction of the heart muscle. It can help you reduce and maintain a healthy weight and control diabetes, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. It also helps reduce stress, increase energy and relieve pain. When starting a new cardiac rehabilitation program, exercise should be done slowly and requires medical monitoring of heart rate and blood pressure. As your strength progresses, the exercise routine can be gradually increased, with slightly more force and longer duration. It is important to maintain consistent exercise because the benefits from exercise will stop when you stop exercising. For most patients, the long-term goal for moderate exercise should be about 30 to 40 minutes 3 to 5 days per week, and some people can exercise 60 minutes per day. Exercise-induced risks are rare. Your rehabilitation health team can develop a safe exercise program for you. Psychological support Serious illness or health problems often take time to adapt and adjust. You may experience depression or anxiety, which may reduce your social adjustment and force you to take a break from work for a period of time, and your family may suffer as well. With systematic health education and counseling through the cardiac rehabilitation program, you will regain your confidence in life and work, regain a positive outlook on life, and return to society as soon as possible. Medical supervision and regular follow-up It is important to visit the hospital regularly for regular rehabilitation instruction after discharge, as it will help your doctor to re-evaluate your health status and make new health instructions based on your progress and changes.