Taking care of your heart is key to preventing cardiovascular disease. These diseases are the leading cause of death in the West. Some factors, such as age, sex or genetics cannot be modified to prevent heart disease, but we can reduce the risk factors. That is why today we will learn how to have a healthy heart.
We just have to put into practice these 10 tips that we tell you below to have a healthy heart:
10 tips on how to have a healthy heart and gain in health and well-being:
What you have to do to have a healthy heart:
- To do physical exercise regularly. It is recommended to practice sports 3 or 4 times a week, for at least 30 minutes. To improve the cardiorespiratory system, control overweight (and the diseases that result from it), high blood pressure and diabetes. It also reduces the chances of suffering from angina or a heart attack.
- Eat a healthy and balanced diet. The diet allows us to regulate cholesterol, high blood pressure and overweight, which are factors that are linked to heart disease. A good diet is low in salt, has fruit and vegetables, fiber, whole grains, lean meats and fish, is low in fat, especially saturated fat and cholesterol. The fat must come from olive oil, nuts, and oily fish, as they are the best for a healthy heart.
- Have a good weight. Obesity causes the heart to overwork, facilitates the appearance of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and many other diseases, including pulmonary and osteoarticular. For this reason, it is essential that everyone is at the right weight.
- Reduce stress and do activities we like. Stress can aggravate cardiovascular disease. So we should try to reduce the situations that stress us out and do activities that we like, that improve our mood and increase our well-being in order to eliminate stress from our lives.
What not to do:
- Don’t smoke. Smoking seriously damages your health, especially your cardiovascular health. It promotes the appearance of thrombosis, reduces the size of the coronary arteries, which hinders blood flow to the heart.
- Moderate the consumption of alcohol. Alcohol abuse is harmful to health, its excess is related to the appearance of heart disease. On the other hand, studies show that drinking one or two glasses of red wine may be good for the heart. Therefore, we recommend drinking alcohol in moderation and preferably red wine with meals.
What you need to control to have a healthy heart:
- Watching your diabetes. So that it does not damage the arteries, does not affect the heart, kidneys and eyesight. This will reduce its side effects such as obesity and high blood pressure.
- Control blood pressure. The detection and treatment of this condition is essential to reduce the risk of suffering serious cardiovascular disease.
- Monitor cholesterol. Cholesterol promotes arteriosclerosis, which increases the risk of suffering, for example, a heart attack or other heart diseases.
- Have a medical check-up. It is recommended that you have your cholesterol checked regularly from the age of 40 onwards, especially if you have risk factors. This will help us to prevent or detect heart disease that has not yet appeared.
So, if you know, if you want to have a healthy heart, start putting all this advice into practice.