Patient Education: Living well with CAD
Living Well with Coronary Artery Disease
Your journey with coronary artery disease continues beyond diagnosis. Lifestyle choices are not optional; they are a core part of treatment, helping to improve symptoms, slow disease progression, and reduce future cardiac events.
This guide offers practical advice to confidently manage your heart health.
Why Lifestyle Matters
Medications and procedures address the arteries, but a holistic approach integrating healthy habits influences your entire cardiovascular system. Together, they deliver the best outcomes for long-term health.
Reduce Symptoms
Minimize anginal symptoms such as chest pain and breathlessness.
Boost Energy
Improve exercise tolerance, energy levels, and overall vitality in day-to-day life.
Lower Risk
Reduce the risk of heart attack and serious heart-related complications.
Support Longevity
Support lasting heart health and the ability to live well and stay active long term.
Remember, progress doesn't demand perfection – small, consistent changes make a big difference.
Physical Activity
Regular movement is one of the most effective treatments for coronary artery disease. It improves circulation, strengthens the heart, and can reduce symptoms over time. For most people, aiming for around 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days is ideal, with walking being a safe and practical choice. Start slowly and build up gradually.
It is normal to feel mildly short of breath during activity, but you should stop and seek advice if you experience chest discomfort, dizziness, or unusual breathlessness.
Exercise plans should always be tailored to your symptoms, fitness level, and overall health to ensure they are safe, achievable, and beneficial.
Nutrition and Heart-Healthy Eating
Plant-Based Focus
Focus on vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and nuts, with lean proteins such as fish or poultry.
Limit added sugars
Limiting sugary drinks and refined carbohydrates helps improve weight and overall heart health.
Choose Healthy Fats
Limit saturated fats by favouring unsaturated fats like olive oil, nuts, seeds, and oily fish.
Reduce Salt Intake
Keeping salt intake low helps control blood pressure and reduces strain on the heart.
Strong evidence shows that heart-healthy eating patterns, such as Mediterranean and DASH-style diets, lower the risk of heart disease over time. The greatest benefits come from adopting eating habits that are realistic, enjoyable, and sustainable, supporting heart health across all stages of life.
Weight, Blood Pressure, and Cholesterol
Healthy Weight
Maintaining a healthy weight reduces strain on the heart and improves blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar control. Even modest, gradual weight loss can lead to meaningful improvements in heart health. The goal is steady, sustainable progress rather than rapid or restrictive dieting.
Managing
Blood Pressure
Blood Pressure
Keeping blood pressure within a healthy range helps protect the heart, brain, and kidneys. Lifestyle measures such as regular activity, reduced salt intake, and stress management often work alongside medication to lower long-term cardiovascular risk.
Controlling Cholesterol
Managing cholesterol helps slow plaque build-up and stabilise existing disease in the arteries. Heart-healthy eating, physical activity, and medications when needed all play a role. Cholesterol control is about reducing future risk, even when symptoms are well controlled.
Maintaining a healthy weight, controlling blood pressure, and managing cholesterol are key pillars of long-term heart health. Small, consistent lifestyle changes often make a meaningful difference and frequently work alongside medications to reduce strain on the heart and lower future risk.
The focus is not on perfection, but on sustainable habits that support heart health over time and help you feel well and stay active.
Smoking and Vaping
Stopping smoking or vaping is one of the most powerful steps you can take to slow coronary disease and protect your heart. The benefits begin quickly, and support can greatly improve success.
It is never too late to gain from quitting.
Stress, Sleep, and Mental Wellbeing
Stress, sleep quality, and emotional wellbeing play an important role in heart health. Ongoing stress can raise blood pressure, increase strain on the heart, and make symptoms more noticeable. Poor sleep affects energy, blood sugar, weight, and inflammation, all of which influence how the heart functions.
Prioritising good sleep, finding healthy ways to manage stress, and seeking support when needed can make a meaningful difference. Simple steps such as regular routines, gentle physical activity, relaxation techniques, and open conversations with trusted people support recovery, resilience, and long-term heart health.
Medications and Lifestyle Work Together
Medications and lifestyle choices work best together. Medications address the underlying drivers of heart disease, while daily habits shape how well the heart functions over time. One does not replace the other, and the strongest protection comes from using both consistently.
Healthy lifestyle choices support the effectiveness of medications. Feeling well does not always mean treatment is no longer needed, and changes should never be made without advice.
Care is reviewed and adjusted over time to balance benefit, safety, and quality of life. Open discussion ensures treatment remains effective, appropriate, and sustainable.
A Practical, Individualised Approach
There’s no single “right” way to live with coronary artery disease. The goal is to craft a plan that fits your life, respects your priorities, supports long-term heart health, and helps you feel better without feeling restricted. Lifestyle management should empower, not overwhelm.
Fit Your Life
Seamless integration of changes into daily routine.
Respect Priorities
Align health goals with your personal values.
Support Health
Foster long-term cardiovascular well-being.
A Final Word
"Living well with coronary artery disease is about informed choices, steady progress, and the right support. With thoughtful care, many people live active, fulfilling lives with heart disease."
For personalised guidance and support, a consultation can clarify next steps and help build a plan tailored for you.
© 2026 Dr Primero Ng. All rights reserved.
Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Perth, Western Australia.
Information on this website is general in nature and does not replace individual medical advice.
Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Perth, Western Australia.
Information on this website is general in nature and does not replace individual medical advice.