7 good habits for heart health

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in the world. However, you can significantly reduce your risk by making lifestyle changes.

1. Move

Movement is essential for the heart: it strengthens the cardiorespiratory system, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, and improves insulin sensitivity. And most importantly, it is beneficial, no matter how little you do. Moving at least a little is better than not moving at all.

The ideal amount of exercise per week is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and 60 minutes of strength training.

You can break the time of aerobic training as you like, for example, five days a week for 30 minutes or three times for 50 minutes. These activities include running, swimming, brisk walking, cycling, basketball, tennis, and even gardening.

During strength training, you need to work out the main muscle groups (legs, back, shoulders, arms). To do this, you can work out with weights, a barbell or an elastic band, do exercises with your own weight (squats and push-ups, yoga). Intensive housework is also fine.

Don't worry if you don't fit within the recommended limits. Any physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. If you're short on free time, look at intense interval training.

2. Monitor your blood pressure

The increased pressure (hypertension) puts mechanical stress on the walls of the arteries, which causes them to narrow and harden. And this increases the risk of blood plaques and cracks in blood vessels, which can lead to a stroke. The ideal pressure is 120/80. The upper value reflects systolic pressure - the pressure at the time of heartbeat. Lower diastolic pressure is the pressure at rest.

An increased risk of hypertension in older people, people with obesity, diabetes and other serious illnesses, and those who drink a lot of alcohol.

If your blood pressure is over the 120/80 mark, you may have prehypertension. And if it is higher than 140/90, you have full-fledged hypertension. Blood pressure changes throughout the day, rising and falling with food and alcohol intake, in response to caffeine and stress. To understand what your usual pressure is, measure it several times a day.

To lower your blood pressure, try:

• Lose weight. When you are overweight, your heart needs to work harder to drive blood through the body.
• Reduce alcohol intake. Men should consume no more than two, and women no more than one serving per day.
• There is less salt. The amount of salt per day should not exceed five grams. Most people consume twice as much.

3. Monitor your cholesterol levels

It is advised to check your cholesterol level every 4-6 years. When doing this, pay attention to:

• HDL cholesterol. It is considered beneficial for the cardiovascular system, its content should be high.
• LDL cholesterol. It is harmful to health, the maintenance level should be low.
• Triglycerides. This is a type of fat that is found in the blood. Elevated triglyceride levels have been linked to heart disease and diabetes.

A proper diet can bring cholesterol levels back to normal. Fatty fish, apples, strawberries, citrus fruits, legumes, vegetables, and flaxseeds reduce LDL levels. Nuts raise HDL levels. And when triglyceride levels are high, it is best to cut back on empty carbs. Try to eliminate sugar, bread, pasta, fruit juices, and other processed carbohydrates from your diet.

4. Monitor your blood sugar

If you are found to have high blood sugar, be sure to check with your doctor to determine if you have diabetes. Please note that several factors can raise blood sugar levels and affect the test result. These are lack of sleep, obesity, alcohol and caffeine consumption, contraception, antidepressants, cold remedies, hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle, chronic stress.

Remember that you can only measure your sugar level after you have not eaten for eight hours.

5. Eat right

All foods can be divided into three categories: heart-healthy, unhealthy, and neutral.

What is there more often

• Plant foods: nuts, seeds, legumes, grains.
• Fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Seafood, especially fatty fish: salmon, sardines, mackerel.
• Fermented foods (yogurt, kefir).
• Healthy fats (olive oil).

What to avoid

• Sugar products (carbonated drinks, juices, sweets).
• Processed carbohydrates (breakfast cereals, white bread, biscuits, pasta).
• Meat products (sausage, sausages, ham, hamburgers).
• Ready-made products, which are high in salt, sugar, fat, preservatives (frozen meals, chips, nuggets, canned soup, instant noodles).

What to use in moderation

• Butter.
• Cheese.
• Red meat.
• Milk.
• Eggs.

The Mediterranean diet is also good for the heart. It is based on olive oil, nuts, seafood, fruits, poultry, legumes and vegetables. Those who followed this diet were significantly less likely to experience heart attacks, strokes, and death from cardiovascular disease than those who followed a regular low-fat diet, according to the researchers.

6. Watch your weight

Fat cells produce substances that increase inflammation, impair insulin sensitivity, and lead to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Therefore, it is not surprising that obesity is one of the leading causes of heart disease. People who have a lot of visceral fat are especially at risk. It accumulates in the abdominal area around the internal organs. Such fat is much more dangerous than subcutaneous fat and it is more difficult to get rid of it.

The amount of visceral fat can be determined using the body mass index. It is calculated by the ratio of height and weight. The optimal BMI is less than 25, a higher indicator already indicates obesity.

But you still can't rely entirely on BMI. People with a lot of muscle mass may have a score above 25 despite having a low percentage of fat mass. Conversely, you can be very thin, but have a high percentage of visceral fat.

If a person looks healthy, this does not mean that he is really healthy. In any case, you need to take care of yourself and undergo examinations.

7. Give up smoking

Smoking causes emphysema (excessive accumulation of air in organs), cancer, periodontitis and damages almost every organ. It is especially dangerous for the heart because tobacco smoke damages blood vessels. In smokers, the risk of heart attack doubles and the risk of stroke triples. Electronic cigarettes also increase the risk of heart disease.