How to keep your heart healthy and strong
If you want to stick to one New Year’s resolution, stick to improving your heart health. But, if it requires big lifestyle changes, improving cardiovascular health can be tricky. Luckily, we compiled a little guide that will help you boost your heart function and keep you healthy and strong.
Quit smoking
First and foremost, if you’re a smoker, try to ditch this gross habit. Cigarette smoke causes cancer and lung disease and increases your chance of a heart attack. But, tobacco is also linked to infertility, pregnancy complications and early menopause. So, there is really an abundance of reasons to quit smoking. Although the process can be quite hard, medicine, counseling and support groups can make quitting easier and stress-free.
Stay active
If you want a healthy and strong heart, you should do at least 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week. It might seem like a lot, but if you make it fun and interesting, you’ll see that it’s more than manageable. For instance, if you don’t like gyms or jogs, you can take your dog for a walk, play basketball, run around with your kids or grand kids and even go speed-shopping! You can even break it up in smaller portions and have a brisk morning walk, lift some weights in the afternoon and do some housework, do gardening in the evening and you’ll meet your daily activity goals.
Eat good fats
A healthy diet doesn’t only include plenty of fruit and veggies and portion control. You also need good fats to give you the energy to get through the day. However, what you don’t need is trans-fat that clogs your arteries, raises your bad cholesterol and decreases good cholesterol. If you cut it from your diet, you’ll boost the blood flow through your body and improve your overall health. You can also add some supplements to your diet to support your healthy heart. For instance, one pill a day of coenzyme Q10 from Australian NaturalCare can help boost cardiovascular and immune system functions, help with bad cholesterol inhibition and replenish the antioxidant activity in your body. When you combine them with a proper diet, you’ll have a healthy heart for a long time!
Conduct good dental hygiene
You might never connect dental hygiene with heart health, but gum disease often increases your chances of developing heart issues. This may be due to bad bacteria in your mouth that travel through your bloodstream and cause inflammations in your blood vessels. So, make sure to floss and brush regularly and have frequent dental appointments with your doctor. This will also ensure your teeth are strong and healthy and your breath is fresh.
Avoid sleep deprivation
Sleep is truly essential if you want to boost your heart health. Sleep deprivation increases the risk of cardiovascular disease at every age and every lifestyle. People who sleep six hours a night and less have twice the possibility of having a heart attack and stroke than people who get six to eight hours of sleep. Sleeping too little causes blood pressure increase and even increases that chance of inflammations. So, make sure to create a good sleep plan, lay off caffeine before bed and hit the hay at a reasonable time.
Just relax
This is easier said than done, but sometimes all you need to do to boost your heart health is to do absolutely nothing. Relaxing is a big part of heart health, so make sure to shed some stress, relax and unwind every day. Stay away from your computer and phone, grab a book, play some relaxing music or try meditation. It will not only boost your physical health but also help you with mood control and focus.
Heart health is definitely something that shouldn’t be neglected, so try to tweak your habits according to these tips and you’ll not only improve your cardiovascular health, but also feel energised and mentally strong.
