Over the past few years, Massachusetts residents (and beyond) have had to deal with a variety of diseases and ailments including COVID-19, RSV, the regular flu, and of course stress. Stress has formed not only from having these ailments but stress has also resulted from the fact that many people lost their jobs, can't find affordable housing, are having trouble paying their bills, and are having a hard time being able to afford food among other everyday factors that can result in stress.

There's One Disease That Folks in Massachusetts and Beyond Have Had to Deal With Before During and After Covid

Another disease that about 10% (8.33%) of Massachusetts adults age 35 and over have, and stress plays a big role, is heart disease. As a matter of fact, mass.gov reports that  7.3% of Massachusetts men 35 and over reported being diagnosed with heart disease, and 4.4% % of Massachusetts women 35 and over reported being diagnosed with the disease. All of these statistics are being brought up because February is American Heart Month.

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What Can One Do to Reduce the Chances of Getting Heart Disease? 

There are a number of things one can do to combat heart disease and stress including healthy eating, increasing physical activity, and quitting smoking. As a matter of fact, the CDC offers a variety of American Heart Month toolkits and "Live to the Beat" resources which you can explore by going here. You can also find more resources and tips by going to the American Heart Association's website. Here's to reducing stress and taking care of your heart.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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LOOK: Here's where people in every state are moving to most

Stacker analyzed the Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey data to determine the three most popular destinations for people moving out of each state.

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