do you think are the
best solutions?
1:
Know Your Family History
So far we’ve looked at things that you can do
individually to stay heart-healthy and reduce your risk of heart disease. But
it’s not just about you; your genes also play a part in whether you’re more
likely to develop heart disease. Essentially, if a first-degree relative (such
as a parent or sibling) had heart disease at an early age, your risk may be
increased tenfold.
You can’t do anything about your genes, of course, but
knowing your family history is still important. For example, if you tell your
doctor that you have relatives who had heart disease, he or she may be more
likely to prescribe medication to help deal with conditions such as high
cholesterol rather than suggest that you try managing it with exercise.
A family history of heart disease is just another
reason to follow the tips we’ve suggested here. Not only can staying heart
healthy increase your quality of life, you can also increase your lifespan and
improve every aspect of your health.
2:
Make Sleep a Priority
It’s no secret that most of us don’t get enough sleep.
It can negatively affect our health in a lot of ways, but a study last year
made more of a link between a lack of sleep and heart disease.
In 2008, University of Chicago researchers showed that
not getting enough sleep may lead to a buildup of plaque in the arteries.
Twenty-seven percent of the study participants getting less than five hours of
sleep per night had plaque in their heart vessels, which only 11 percent of
people sleeping five to seven hours and six percent sleeping more than seven
hours did.
One theory is that a lack of sleep raises levels of a
hormone called cortisol, which leads to inflammation and causes plaques to
break apart, travel to the heart or brain and cause a stroke or heart attack.
So grab a pillow and make sleep a priority.
3:
Visit Your Doctor
While some people with heart disease experience chest
pain, nausea, dizziness, heart palpitations or shortness of breath, most people
don’t know that they have heart disease until they have a heart attack. That’s
why it’s very important to get regular exams at your doctor’s office, including
checks of your blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels. High
readings for any of these tests indicate an increased risk of heart disease. So
does a high BMI or a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
If you or your doctor is concerned that you may
already have heart disease, you might need more tests. One common test is an
electrocardiogram, or EKG, to record your heart’s electrical activity to find
out whether you have a normal heartbeat or any heart damage. You may have it
lying down, or when walking or running on a treadmill (known as a stress test).
4:
Eat Right
You don’t have to invest a lot of time or money into
figuring out a heart-healthy diet, or even follow a diet with a specific name. Just stick to a few basic guidelines:
·
Read nutrition labels
and be aware of serving sizes.
·
Keep your salt intake
at less than 2,000 milligrams per day.
·
Avoid foods high in
saturated fat, trans fats and cholesterol.
·
Use mono- and
polyunsaturated fats such as olive oil, but be careful about limiting all fat
intake.
·
Choose whole-grain
foods such as whole-wheat pasta instead of white pasta.
·
Eat more fresh fruits
and vegetables without added salt, sugar or fat.
·
Choose low-fat sources
of protein, such as skim milk instead of whole milk, and trim visible fat and
skin from meats.
·
Eat foods high in
omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, walnuts and flaxseed.
5:
Exercise Regularly
There are lots of great reasons to exercise, and
staying heart healthy is just one of them. Regular aerobic exercise can lower
your LDL (bad cholesterol) and blood pressure as well as your risk of obesity,
type 2 diabetes and other conditions. It also reduces your stress level. Your
heart is a muscle that needs to be exercised just like any other — doing so
will make it work more efficiently even when you’re at rest.
The American Heart Association suggests that you get
30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week. If you’ve never exercised
before, start out slowly and build up. You can also break up that 30 minutes
into two or three sessions. Jogging, hiking, brisk walking, swimming and
bicycling are all good places to start, but finding something that you like
doing (and will stick with) is the most important part.
6: Stay Within a
Healthy Weight Range
Being overweight can
be very hard on your heart. A bigger body needs an increased blood flow, so
your heart enlarges in order to compensate. This can lead to high blood
pressure — a major cause of heart disease — or congestive heart failure (when
the heart’s chambers give out due to overexertion). A study by the National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute showed that the risk of heart failure increases
by 34 percent if you’re overweight and more than 100 percent if you’re obese.
Losing just 5 or 10
pounds can help. Use an online calculator to learn your Body Mass Index, or
BMI. You should also get out a tape measure. For men, your risk of heart disease
is increased if your waist measures more than 40 inches, while the risk for
women increases at more than 35 inches. If you’re overweight or obese according
to your BMI, or have a larger waist measurement, talk to your doctor about
losing weight.
7: Reduce Stress
While we can’t yet
prove that stressful situations can increase your risk of having heart disease,
there does seem to be a connection between the two. A study conducted at Yale
University in 2006, for example, showed that layoffs doubled the risk of heart
attacks in some age groups, and other studies have shown similar findings.
Stress can also lead you to engage in behaviors that aren’t exactly
heart-healthy, such as smoking, excessive drinking and overeating. That’s why
it’s in your best interest to find other ways to cut back on your stress
levels.
Here are a few healthy
ways to reduce stress:
·
Try to keep in mind that you can’t control what others do — all
you can do is control your reaction to it.
·
Avoid stressful situations as much as possible.
·
Find some kind of enjoyable exercise.
·
Talk to others about your feelings and get a different
perspective.
·
Make a little quiet time each day to meditate, journal or
reflect.
8: Take Care of Your
Teeth
It seems odd at first
to think that your teeth have anything to do with heart health, but there may
be a link between heart disease and periodontal disease, which affects both
your gums and your bones supporting the teeth. According to the American Academy
of Peridontology, people with periodontal disease are nearly two times as
likely to have heart disease, although we’re not sure why just yet. One theory
suggests that bacteria in your gums can enter the bloodstream and attach itself
to fat already in your arteries, while another states that the inflammation
caused by periodontal disease makes the arteries swell.
While nobody can
definitively say that you will prevent heart disease by taking care of your
teeth, early signs of periodontal disease — including bleeding gums — are much
easier to notice than signs of heart disease. Brushing and flossing your teeth
regularly, as well as visiting your dentist at least twice a year, will
definitely contribute to your overall health.
9: Limit Alcohol and
Caffeine
There have been lots
of studies about the heart-healthy benefits of drinking alcohol in moderation,
particularly red wine. While there has been some research to suggest that a
drink or two per day can help raise HDL (good cholesterol), the jury’s still
out. If you don’t drink, there’s no reason to start because of these potential
benefits. There are enough other risks associated with drinking to make sure
you keep it in moderation. Excessive alcohol consumption can actually raise
your triglycerides (fat levels in the blood), as well as lead to conditions
such as high blood pressure, heart failure and obesity.
Scientists are unsure whether drinking lots of
caffeine will increase your risk of heart disease — results of studies so far
are mixed. It seems to depend on how each person individually metabolizes
caffeine. But if you find yourself feeling dizzy or having heart palpitations
after drinking more than a few cups of coffee a day, consider cutting back.
10:
Stop Smoking
There’s a reason why it’s called an addiction; it’s
very difficult to quit smoking once you’ve picked up the habit. But no matter
how long you’ve been a smoker, it’s never too late to stop.
You already know that
smoking can give you lung cancer (throat cancer, mouth cancer, pancreatic
cancer — you get the picture), but did you know that it can increase your risk
of heart disease?
Smokers have a higher
incidence of atherosclerosis (buildup of fat in the arteries), and they
generally have lower HDL (the good kind of cholesterol). Smoking can increase
your blood pressure and your risk of blood clots. And, if you’re a heavy
smoker, you’ve probably noticed that you get very out of breath if you try to
do sustained aerobic activity — something that’s necessary for good heart
health.
Even if you’re not a
smoker, secondhand smoke can also increase your risk of heart disease, so it’s
best to stay out of smoky places
