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Lifestyle Changes	Why?	How?
Stop smoking	Smoking can damage blood vessels, reduce the amount of oxygen in the blood and make the heart beat faster. Learn more about smoking	Ask your doctor about your options. Many are available including smoking cessation programs, medication and counseling.
Lose weight and maintain a healthy weight	Excess weight can put a strain on the heart. Sudden weight gain can indicate fluid retention.	There are many classes and programmes available. Be sure to ask your doctor before beginning any diet or exercise plan.
Avoid alcohol	Can weaken an already damaged heart.	Choose non-alcoholic beverages. Ask your doctor whether "non-alcoholic" beers and wines are acceptable.
Avoid or limit caffeine	Can weaken an already damaged heart. Also promotes some arrhythmias.	Reduce intake of tea and coffee.
Limit sodium (salt)	Sodium contributes to fluid retention, which can cause breathing problems and swelling and is bad for high blood pressure. Learn more about sodium	Limit daily intake to 2,400 mg. Don't add salt when cooking or at the table. Read labels on foods and some medication to find low-sodium versions. More tips for limiting sodium
Exercise	Benefits can include reducing stress, improving energy and improving circulation and blood pressure. More about exercise	Walking, swimming and cycling are popular activities for people with heart failure. Cardiac rehabilitation programmes provide gradual increase in exercise in a supervised setting. Be sure to consult your doctor before starting any exercise programme or new activity.
Reduce stress	Tension can increase stress on the heart.	Find something that works for you, whether it's exercise, a support group, meditation or just spending time with family and friends.
Track symptoms	Changes may indicate the need to see your doctor for changes in treatment. Sudden changes may indicate a serious change in your condition. Contact your doctor immediately.	Keep a notebook or diary, or have a special calendar just for recording medical appointments, symptoms, etc. Don't rely on memory. Set up your own medical folder.
Treat underlying causes like high blood pressure and clogged arteries	Heart failure has a variety of causes including high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.	Make and keep regular doctor appointments.

Lifestyle changes after receiving a CRT device for heart failure

You will probably notice considerable improvement in heart failure symptoms after receiving a CRT device. For example, you may be able to exercise and move around more. Best of all you may be able to resume activities you enjoyed before but had to cut back on or even give up before therapy. Always remember, CRT is a supplemental treatment for heart failure and is not intended to replace medication. Even though you may feel much better, you are still living with heart failure, which needs to be managed carefully by your doctor.

Precautions for using appliances, tools, and equipment
There are some important recommendations and precautions about electricity and magnets that you should know about. Here's a brief science lesson: Appliances, tools, and equipment that use electricity and magnets have electromagnetic fields around them. These are usually weak and do not usually affect the device. However, strong electromagnetic fields can cause electromagnetic interference (EMI), which may temporarily alter how your device works. If you think your device is being affected by EMI, you should simply move away from the electrical device or turn it off. The device will then return to its normal operation.

Last Updated on: 20.01.2005