How to prevent heart disease
Heart disease is the biggest killer in the United States and the cost of treating it is extremely high. Many people just go on with their daily lives until it is too late. They end up with heart disease which can affect their lifestyle and leave them feeling fearful of when they’re going to have a cardiac event.
There are many things that we can do to prevent this from happening. Diet, exercise and stress reduction to name a few. These three things play a huge role in heart health and the earlier you start working on them the better.
Planning to live a healthy lifestyle is very important to your overall health and will make you feel better all around.
Here are some simple steps to help you avoid heart disease so that you can live a full life enjoying all the things around you.
Exercise
Starting an exercise program is hands down the best thing you can do for your heart. Your heart is a muscle and working out makes the heart stronger. When you exercise regularly your heart will be able to pump more blood per stroke. This is called stroke volume and the higher your stroke volume the less your heart must work to perform a task. Doing any kind of workout program will make your heart healthier but some are better than others.
Interval training and steady state cardio are great ways to build up your heart health quickly. Intervals are when you do a period of easy exercise with a period of hard exercise, you can do intervals running, biking swimming or even walking if you’re just starting out. Steady state cardio is when you do a workout with your heart rate staying at a steady pace for an extended period. When doing steady state, cardio try using a heart rate monitor and keep your beats per minute around 145-155.
Exercise has been shown to reduce blood pressure, weight, stress and cholesterol. Exercise has also been shown to improve flexibility of the heart muscle and the rest of the cardiovascular system. This allows blood to flow freely though the body without restriction reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
If you’re new to exercising, make sure to speak with your doctor to make sure you’re healthy enough to start a fitness program. It is a good idea to consult with a fitness professional to make sure that your program is designed properly so that you don’t suffer an injury.
Nutrition
What you eat plays a huge role in heart disease. How much you eat and what you eat are the biggest factors in keeping your numbers in the green. When planning a heart, healthy diet make sure to eat plenty of whole foods like fruits in veggies. Many of these foods are rich in heart healthy nutrients and packed with fiber which helps keep cholesterol under control.
Another food to that is a must is fish. The omega 3 fats in fish have been shown to improve heart health. Omega 3fatty acids may lower blood pressure, decrease triglycerides, reduce stroke and heart failure risk and reduce irregular heartbeats. If you don’t like eating fish, consider using an omega-3 supplement but remember that getting your omega-3s in food is always a better choice.
When you are buying, bread make sure to go with a brand with lots of fiber because it will make you stay full longer and may help reduce cholesterol levels.
Lastly eating nuts is a good idea for heart health. Nuts have a lot of nutritional value and are loaded with good fats. Just make sure not to go crazy because nuts are loaded with a lot of calories.
Stay hydrated
This is a simple tip that doesn’t require much explanation. Staying hydrated is a must for heart health because most of our body is made up of water and this includes our blood. Drinking plenty of water helps the heart pump blood more efficiently through the body. Water also helps us feel full reducing our consumption of food which is beneficial to heart health.
Lose weight
Losing weight is one of the best ways to improve heart health because carrying around extra pounds puts a lot of stress on our hearts. Losing weight is simple if you follow these rules. Be active for at least 50 minutes per day, track your diet with an app like my fitness pal, eat whole foods and get plenty of sleep. If you work on these areas, you will lose weight.
Try to avoid fad diets because they only work in the short term and usually lead to weight gain soon after you stop the program. Your goal should be to lose about one pound per week.
Try cutting 500 calories per day by taking part in a calorie reduction program using diet and exercise together. Remember not to rush results. It took time to put on the weight so it will take time to take it off.
Reducing Stress
Stress is one of the biggest factor of heart disease because it controls our lives every day. When we are stressed out we tend to eat unhealthy foods, skip workouts and get less sleep than we need. Having a stressful life can wreak havoc on our lives leaving us feeling powerless.
If you’re feeling stressed there are some simple steps you can take to improve you stress levels. Try yoga, mediation or take a walk. Working out can reduce stress but make sure to reduce the intensity at first so that you don’t cause more stress. Try letting go of the little things that make you stressed out so that they don’t build up on you.
If you can’t shake the stressful feelings try seeing a counselor to talk some of your issues out. This can help get you started and keep you on track for a happy and healthy life.
The Take Away
Many of us are impacted by heart disease we may have a friend or someone in our family may suffer from it. Taking some simple steps can make the difference between living a long healthy life or a shortened life with a lot of struggles. Remember life doesn’t have to be this way. You’re in control of the actions in your life and the choices you make now can lead to a healthier tomorrow. Get started today and your body will thank you later.
