Are you looking after your heart? Today, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of premature death. However, many forms of CVD can be prevented through healthy choices and a heart healthy lifestyle.
Follow these top seven tips for a heart healthy lifestyle and reduce your risk of a heart attack, stroke, and other forms of CVD.
1. Watch what you eat
The food you eat has a huge effect on whether you are at risk for heart disease. Unhealthy diets lead to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, which are all risk factors for CVD. You can protect your heart by eating nutritious foods that are high in vitamins, minerals, fibers, and other nutrients, and by avoiding high calorie foods that lack nutritional benefits.
A heart healthy diet includes lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean meats, legumes, nuts, and low-fat dairy products. You also want to avoid excess sugar, salt, and saturated fats that can be found in red meat, butter, and many processed foods.
For your heart health, you also want to consider the amount you’re eating. Eating more calories than your body needs leads to obesity, another risk factor for CVD. You want to ensure you’re eating the right number of calories to fuel your body. You can calculate your calorie requirements here: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/calorie-calculator/itt-20402304
2. Exercise throughout the week
Your heart needs you to be physically active every day. Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of exercise per week with at least two days of muscle strengthening.[i] Physical activity lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and can help you maintain your weight.
While 150 minutes might sound like a lot, it doesn’t need to be done at one time. You could start by exercising for five-minute intervals a few times a day or do a 30-minute walk five times a week. For anyone just starting out with an exercise routine, it’s important to ensure that you don’t push yourself too hard or too fast. This could put an extra strain on your heart and lead to adverse consequences. Start slow and check your heart rate and rhythm during any exercise activity.
3. Don’t smoke
If you or someone in your household smokes this instantly increases your risk of heart disease. Smoking and tobacco use damage blood vessels, increase blood pressure, and reduce the amount of oxygen your blood can carry. Quitting smoking instantly reduces your risk of CVD and improves your heart health.
Quitting smoking can be very difficult due to the addictive nature of tobacco products. Many people who quit experience nicotine withdrawals in the form of headaches, bad moods, low energy, and other physical symptoms. There are several nicotine replacement therapies including gum, lozenges, or patches that can provide small doses of nicotine to help curb withdrawal symptoms while you quit. If these therapies don’t help, you should speak with your doctor about prescription medication that could help you successfully quit smoking.
4. Think before you drink
Alcohol, sugary sodas, and other beverages put high stress on your heart. Alcohol can raise blood pressure and lead to high triglycerides and an irregular heartbeat. Alcohol is often full of sugar and has a high number of calories with no nutritional benefits. Excess alcohol consumption can lead to obesity and alcoholism and puts people at risk of CVD.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men.[ii] A drink consists of 12 fluid ounces of beer (5% alcohol), five fluid ounces of wine (12% alcohol), or 1.5 fluid ounces of distilled spirits (80 proof, 40% alcohol).
5. Floss daily
This may surprise you, but studies have shown that there is a clear connection between gum disease and CVD.[iii] This could be because bacteria that infect gums can also travel through blood vessels and cause inflammation and damage elsewhere in the body.
Other theories suggest that poor oral health correlates with CVD, rather than causes CVD. This means that poor oral health doesn’t lead to CVD, but many people experience both because risk factors for poor oral health, including smoking, poor diets, and alcohol consumption, also increase CVD risks.
Whether or not gum disease risks your heart health, it’s important to take care of your oral hygiene. You should brush twice a day, floss daily, and routinely visit a dentist for checkups.
6. Reduce stress
High stress can poorly affect your heart health. Stress is linked with high blood pressure, chest pain, and an irregular heartbeat. Additionally, many people cope with stress with unhealthy habits such as overeating, smoking, or drinking alcohol.
Unfortunately, stress may be unavoidable for many people due to demanding jobs, financial commitments, and family life. In fact, a study from the American Psychological Association found that Americans today are more stressed than ever before, due especially to the COVID19 pandemic and the uncertainty of the future.[iv]
If you find yourself suffering from excessive stress, you might need to invest in new coping mechanisms to reduce stress and protect your heart health. You could reach out to a mental health provider for therapy, change your career to something less stressful, or find a stress-relieving activity you can easily do daily such as reading, exercising, or taking a bath.
7. Get screened regularly
It’s almost impossible to gauge how healthy your heart is without getting regularly screened for CVD. Regular screenings will show you whether your heart is at risk and if you need to make additional changes to reduce your risks. All adults ages 18-80 should get screened regularly. If you are at risk or have a family history of CVD, it is recommended to get screened annually.
MyCardioGuard offers accurate and inexpensive screenings to detect early-stage CVD in individuals with few or no symptoms. A 15-minute, non-invasive FDA-approved screening by MyCardioGuard is a thorough way to check your heart health. Learn more on our website: https://www.mycardioguard.com/
Live a heart healthy lifestyle
A healthy heart takes daily work. If you follow these tips, your heart will thank you. You’ll also feel better, have more energy, and be confident in your heart health.
[i] https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm
[ii] https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/resources/2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-online-materials
[iii] https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/gum-disease-and-the-connection-to-heart-disease
[iv] https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/report-october