Heart attack is the number one leading cause of death in the United States. Therefore, taking care of your heart is of utmost importance. You don’t have to be one of those people who die from heart diseases and their complications. Even if you have a heart disease right now, you can still improve your health by making the necessary lifestyle modifications that would enable you to stay healthy. Here are five tips to make your heart healthy on a daily basis.
Stop smoking
One of the risk factors in the development of heart diseases is smoking or tobacco use. Then chemicals found in cigarettes are tobaccos can narrow your arteries, causing atherosclerosis. This can subsequently lead to heart attack. Even exposure to secondhand smoke can have the same effect. Therefore, quitting smoking is one of the things that you need to do in order to improve your heart health. Studies show that your risk for heart disease decreases dramatically a year after quitting smoking, no matter how long you have been smoking.
Exercise every day
Physical activity can help you lose weight and help you strengthen your heart muscles. Thus, it reduces your risk of developing heart diseases like high blood pressure and high cholesterol. A 30-minute exercise routine is good for your heart. If you cannot commit to a full 30 minutes, you can opt to break it down into shorter, 10-minute exercises distributed throughout the day. Once your body gets used to exercising, you can increase the intensity, frequency, and duration of your exercises.
Eat in a heart-friendly way-Cardiac Diet
When you are at risk for heart disease, you have to start watching what you eat. In general, you should eat foods that are low in salt, cholesterol, and fat. You can find these in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low fat dairy products and protein sources. Avoid foods that are high in trans-fat and saturated fat, since these are linked to increased cholesterol levels and higher risk of getting coronary artery disease. Follow a Cardiac diet Aside from these things, you should also limit your alcohol intake to about one or two glasses per day only. This kind of moderation can help protect your heart, but too much alcohol can have a negative effect.
Cook your own meals
It is easier to keep track of the calories and the nutritional content of your foods if you cook them at home. It allows you to create your own healthy foods, such as whole grain pastas with low-sodium tomato sauce instead of the pasta that you buy outside. Moreover, you will able to save a lot of you cook your own meals.
Relax
You have probably seen movies with characters having a heart attack after receiving stressful news. Well, that kind of thing can be possible. Stress is a contributing factor not just to heart diseases but to a variety of chronic illnesses. Therefore, you need to relax every now and then and do not subject yourself to unnecessary stresses.
For best results patients should follow a cardiac diet meal planner that fits their weight and exercise program.
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