5 ways to boost your heart health

Did you know that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death (ref. link) for both men and women in the UK? Research suggests that there are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital heart attacks in the UK each year, with a survival rate of less than 1 in 10. Despite extensive research to combat this problem, heart disease remains a major contributor to spiking death rates all over the world. 

That being said, unlike many other illnesses, heart disease can be kept at bay by making simple changes to your lifestyle. That’s why we have curated a list of 5 basic lifestyle changes that are incredibly effective in improving heart health.

Top 5 Ways To Strengthen Your Heart

1. Adopt Healthy Diet for a Healthy Heart

Monitoring your eating habits is one of the easiest lifestyle changes you can make to benefit your heart. Take charge of your heart’s health by switching to heart-healthy foods. Below are some of the primary dietary restrictions you should consider.

• Limit Daily Sodium Intake
  Too much sodium intake can cause excessive water retention in the body. When this occurs your heart has to work harder to circulate the additional fluid through your body. Switch to food products with “no salt added” labels and avoid foods containing more than 400 milligrams of sodium per serving. The recommended daily sodium intake is below 1500 milligrams per adult (ref. link).
• Lower Your Saturated Fat Intake
  You can reduce your fat intake by eating low-fat cuts of meat and avoiding high-fat dairy products.
• Switch To Unsaturated Fats
  Unsaturated fats are considered heart-healthy as they lower the inflammation in your body. Heart-healthy fats include vegetable oil, low-fat mayonnaise, and oil-based salad dressings.
• Increase Your Dietary Fibre Intake
  Eating a fibre-rich diet lowers cholesterol level significantly. The way this works is by lowering the amount of LDL cholesterol that is absorbed into your bloodstream. High-fibre foods you should be eating include whole-wheat pasta, barley, chickpeas, lentils, and edamame.
• Add Low-Fat Dairy Products To Your Diet
  Low-fat dairy products provide a solid nutritional base for losing weight, and thus reducing heart diseases. Some low-fat dairy products are skim milk, soy milk, low-fat yoghurt, and fat-free cheese.

 2. Maintain Heart Health with Daily Exercise

A major step you must take in your journey towards good heart health is adding exercise to your daily routine. Being one of the most effective tools for strengthening the heart muscle, it keeps your weight under control and wards off artery damage from high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure. 

• Aerobics / “Cardio”
  Aerobic fitness is one of the keys to keeping your heart healthy. Aerobic exercise is defined as cardiovascular exercise, “cardio”, that gets your heart pumping. During aerobic exercise, your blood pumps quickly throughout your body, and your lungs take in more oxygen. The word aerobic means “with oxygen,” meaning that your breathing determines the amount of oxygen that gets to your muscles. Try not to exceed your average heart rate while exercising, and always stop if you feel lightheaded or dizzy.
• Strength Training
  Also known as Resistance Training, strength training increases muscle strength by making your muscles work against a weight or force. Examples include using free weights, weight machines, resistance bands, and bodyweight training. It is important to include regular strength training sessions in your schedule. Strength training helps raise HDL (good) cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. Try strength training at least twice a week.
• Stretching
  Simple stretching before and after other exercises benefits musculoskeletal health. This enables you to stay flexible and free from joint pain, cramps, and other muscular issues.

 3. Strengthen Your Heart with These Lifestyle Changes

There are a few harmful habits that can seriously affect your heart health. You may adapt the following positive habits for a healthy heart.

• Quit Smoking
  Do your heart a favour, quit smoking. Even passive, or secondhand, smoking should be avoided as much as possible as its impact is more significant than you’d think. Cigarette smoke is known to contain over 7,000 chemicals (ref. link). If you find someone smoking around you, remove yourself from the area or request them to smoke somewhere else.
• Avoid Excess Alcohol Intake
  Drinking alcohol above the recommended levels can lead to increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and weakened heart muscle. Limit consumption to a couple of drinks per day for better heart health.
• Maintain A Healthy Weight
  Excessive weight can cause fat accumulation in your arteries, eventually leading to clogged arteries and heart disease. Maintaining a moderate weight ensures that your heart doesn’t have to pump extra blood. Try maintaining your weight within the recommended range based on your age and height.
• Regular Health Screening
  Regular health checks for blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels can tell you face the risk of developing a heart ailment. For adults aged between 18 and 39, blood pressure screening should be done once a year, and cholesterol levels should be checked at least once in every 2 years.

 4. Keep Your Blood Pressure in Control

The higher your blood pressure, the greater your risk of heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, loss of mental function, and dementia. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is defined as blood pressure above 140/90 mm Hg.

Most people with high blood pressure (hypertensive patients) can control their blood pressure without medications by following these steps:

• Try eating at least five servings of vegetables and four servings of fruit daily
• Limit calorie-dense foods loaded with fat, sugar, and refined grains
• Limit sodium consumption
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Exercise daily

5. Get Adequate Sleep

People who do not get adequate sleep are at a higher risk of obesity, heart attack, blood pressure, diabetes, and depression. Seven hours of sleep each night is recommended for a healthy mind and body. Not only should you get the requisite hours, you should follow a sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.

If you feel that your body and mind remain tired even though you’re getting seven hours of sleep per day, ask your healthcare provider if you need to be tested for obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that elevates your risk of heart disease. 

Signs of obstructive sleep apnea include loud snoring, difficulty breathing during sleep, and then waking up gasping for air. It can be treated by maintaining an appropriate weight and using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device to keep the airways open while sleeping.

Bottom Line

A healthy heart lifestyle involves understanding and evaluating your health risks, making healthy choices, and taking gradual steps to prevent heart disease, including coronary heart disease. By taking precautionary and preventive measures, you can easily lower the risk of heart diseases that could lead to a heart attack.

Finally, the best way to make sure all of these methods are improving your heart health is by monitoring important cardiac metrics. Do so by purchasing the revolutionary Frontier X2 heart monitoring device!

Other Heart Health Topics To Explore:

Arrhythmia Causes | Atrial Fibrillation Heart Rate | Endurance Training | Heart Palpitations After Eating | Heart Health | Running Heart Rate. | Increased Heart rate | Irregular Heartbeat causes | Heart Attack Symptoms | Best Heart Rate Monitor

Frontier X2:

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