10 Simple Advices for Maintaining a Healthy Heart

With heart disease risk being the number one cause of death among older Americans, you should pay particular attention to known causes of heart disease. A healthy heart can continue to function as well at 70 as it did at 30. If your heart is not affected by disease, your resting heart rate remains the same throughout your life. The question, then, is what can you do to keep it healthy? Here are ten simple advices for maintaining a healthy heart.

Keep Active and Fit. The heart is a muscle, and muscles stay functional through use. A study of 3,000 men between the ages of 30 and 69 showed that the fit were three times less likely to die of heart disease risk than the least fit. Any exercise is better than none. A brisk walk for 45 to 50 minutes, three times a week will make a big difference in your heart’s ability to continue serving you.

Eating Healthy. A number of studies have shown a connection between diet and heart disease risk. The number one problem is cholesterol, which causes stiffening and narrowing of the arteries, thus increasing the risk of heart attack. By reducing fat in the diet to less than 30 % of calories and keeping blood cholesterol below the 200 level, you help keep your heart health.

Stop Smoking. Smoking is thought to contribute to blood clotting, and researchers estimate that blood clots in the coronary arteries are responsible for more than 90 percent of all heart attacks. It’s not surprising, then, that smokers are about twice as likely as nonsmokers to have heart disease and heart attacks. However, after 15 years of not smoking, the heart disease risk is the same for former smokers as it is for those who never smoked.

Reduce Caffeine Consumption. Drinking five cups of coffee daily increases your chance of a heart attack by 50 percent over non-coffee drinkers. And, coffee is not the only culprit. Six cups of tea or six 12-ounce soft drinks can have the same affect. Break your caffeine addiction!

Keep Active and Fit. The heart is a muscle, and muscles stay functional through use. A study of 3,000 men between the ages of 30 and 69 showed that the fit were three times less likely to die of heart disease than the least fit. Any exercise is better than none. A brisk walk for 45 to 50 minutes, three times a week will make a big difference in your heart’s ability to continue serving you.

Control Your Blood Pressure. As we are getting older, blood pressure are tends to be higher. You must maintain a healthy blood pressure, by giving some considerations on following heart health diet. In your daily food intake, replace saturated fat food with a more unsaturated tat food. Please lower the amount of salt in your food, you can read in food labeling as “sodium”. And the other thing is if you eat liquorices, limit the amount to be less than 100g for daily consumption.

Manage Body Weight. How do you lose weight? Well it is a simple as your calorie input should be less than your calorie output. This can be achieved by eating a well balanced food like have been discussed above and maintain and active lifestyle by regular exercise.

Avoid and Manage Diabetes. Diabetes is the condition when the level of sugar in your blood is higher than normal. Do you know that people with diabetes are 2-4 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke?

How can you avoid diabetes and manage a healthy blood sugar level? You can do it by eating a heart health diet, maintain your body weight and do regular exercise. You will certainly need doctor’s advice about hot to further manage your diabetes if you have one. Consult with them for your medication, because you’ll need to take diabetes medication for life.

Manage Your Cholesterol Level. Cholesterol is the fatty substance which your liver makes from the fats you eat in food. It is kind of ironic, but our bodies need cholesterol to be able to work in normal condition. But too much cholesterol can cause a fatty build up which narrows your blood vessels. Cholesterol level can be reduced by having more servings of beans and dried peas on your daily food, seeds, fruit and veggies. On important thing is avoiding food which contain meat, butter, coconut and palm oil

Relax and Think Positively. Modern life is loaded with stress. While retirement takes you away from job-related stress, there will be other things like family, health, or money worries to upset you. Your heart becomes at risk when hostility is repressed or circumstances seem to overwhelm you. Participating in relaxation techniques such as resting quietly, breathing exercises, meditation, or yoga help keep stress under control.

Depressed people tend to eat too much, drink too much, and exercise too little. All of these have a negative impact on your healthy heart and your blood pressure level. In addition to thinking positively, it helps to cultivate friendships as a way to lift the spirits. In a survey of 200 heart specialists, nearly two-thirds of them rated learning to enjoy love and friendship as an important factor in preventing heart trouble.