Strategies for a healthy heart
Sunday, January 25th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Just a short time ago, heart disease was this country`s biggest killer. It’s now in the same league as obesity. However, that changes very little, as obesity often lead to heart disease, which just makes the argument cyclical.
If you’ve lived life to the fullest – which sometimes or oftentimes means you’ve indulged in a lifestyle that’s not very heart friendly - it may be high time for you to take a long hard look at yourself, especially if you’re getting on in years. It may now be time to look at the South Beach Heart Program. These are some things you can do right away to get your heart on a healthy path.
A Strategy of Prevention
Since heart attacks are preventable, you would be wise to change your ifestyle immediately. How do you do this? By avoiding activities that increase your risk of heart attack of course.
Stop Smoking – Cigarette smoke contains around thousands of chemicals, most of which can damage your heart and blood vessels on their own. These elements working together, are crippling your heart and arteries. Nicotine also makes your heart work harder by constricting blood vessels and increasing your heart rate and blood pressure. There is no middle ground, and even occasional smokers are at a high risk. If you stop, your risk factor drops off the scale.
Drink Moderately – If you drink, drink moderately. Overindulgence with alcohol leads to high blood pressure not to mention being dangerous to your liver. If you are in a social situation, try and drink red wine, which is good for the heart. Of course, this need to be in moderate levels.
Eat a heart-healthy diet- The eat whatever you like diet you were on during your younger years probably didn’t do so much good for your heart but if you can start healthy eating now, it will still be beneficial for you. Try and eat a diet rich is fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It’s time to reduce fatty milk products and meats that have a high fat content.
Engage in Physical Activity
Now that you’ve eliminated activities that are bad for your heart, it’s now time to engage inactivities that are good for it. To make is simple and direct you need to exercise regularly.
Regular exercise whether sports or working out in the gym or your own home helps prevent heart disease by increasing blood flow to your heart, strengthening it in the process. Exercise also lowers your bad cholesterol levels. As a side benefit, exercise will reduce mental stress - also a leading cause of heart disease.
Exercising is also key to maintaining a healthy weight. It is natural that as we age, our metabolism slows down that is why when we were young, we could seemingly eat as much as we want and yet stay fit. Being overweight adds to your heart disease risk factor. Strive to get your weight down to the right level proportionate to your height and age.
Make Check-ups Part of Your Retirement
Another strategy that people ignore is making check-ups part of their lifestyle. Not paying attention to this, can be very detrimental to your health. Sometimes it is, but sometimes its not. Some seniors could look into optional medications. Without testing and checkups, chances are you might miss on a condition that will not readily present itself. Regular checkups will also let you know your actual cholesterol levels so you will know what type of foods to eat and what to avoid, and also what foods you can indulge on.
Following these strategies can help you live a longer, healthier life, but only if you do them all together, not just piecemeal. The sooner you start, the better off you will be.
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