How to Take Care of the Heart

2023-09-29 11:54:01

More and more people are suffering heart disease. Stress and quality of life are two of the most influential factors that affect the proper functioning of our heart. But they are not the only ones.

Cardiovascular risk factors

To take care of the heart we must be aware of the risk factor’s that put us at risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease. Below we explain what they are so that you can prevent them and reduce the risk to your health:

high cholesterol

As explained from the Spanish Heart Foundation, cholesterol is directly related to cardiovascular diseases. It is important to know the cholesterol level in our body to be aware of the risk it poses to our heart.

Experts recommend that people who have already reached the age of majority review their cholesterol levels once a year if there are no previous complications. The perfect binomial is formed by the combination of a healthy and balanced diet y daily physical exercise.

High blood pressure

The risk of heart disease, heart attack, or stroke increases significantly with high blood pressure (hypertension).

He risk of heart disease and strokes increase in hypertensive people and if they are also obese, smokers or have high cholesterol levels, the risk factor for suffering from serious cardiovascular disease will increase.

Blood pressure varies depending on the age and level of physical activity of each person. We can take as a reference normal values for a healthy adult at rest: 120/80.

Being overweight

Obesity is related to high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure, which, as we have explained previously, are important risk factors for the heart.

For all this it is very important to avoid eating saturated fats and take care of our diet. In the same way we must exercise to maintain our ideal weight. As a general rule, doctors measure obesity with the Body Mass Indexwhich is calculated by dividing weight by our height.

If this value is greater than 25, you are considered overweight and if it is greater than 30, you are considered obese.

Diabetes

Among people with diabetes, especially type II, heart disease are the main cause of death. It is essential that at the first symptoms or suspicions that we may suffer from this disease we go to a doctor as soon as possible.

Sedentary lifestyle

It has been proven that people who have a sedentary life and do not practice sports have a higher risk of heart disease than active people.

Exercising not only contributes to maintain our ideal weightIt also helps lower cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes. It also strengthens the heart muscle.

It is not necessary to do intense exercise, to take care of the heart it is recommended do moderate exercise regularly over time.

Stress

Although this factor is still being studied by medical professionals, it seems that stress also contributes to increasing the risk of having coronary heart disease.

It must be taken into account that when you are in a stressful situation, hormones are released that raise blood pressurelikewise in these situations heart rate rises and clotting factors in the blood. All of them important risk factors.

Alcohol and tobacco

Habitual smoking causes the arteries to hardenincreases blood pressure and heart rate, causing the heart undergoes more effort by having to work more. We must not forget that tobacco, in addition to nicotine, has many other chemical substances that harm heart health.

In the same way the excessive alcohol consumption is also a risk factor to suffer from coronary heart disease, as it also raises blood pressure and can cause irregular heart function. However, moderate alcohol consumption can be beneficial, as various studies have shown.

A hereditary factor

It is very important to keep in mind that many heart diseases have an important hereditary factor. In this way, if we have family members who have had heart problems, it is important to put ourselves in the hands of professionals so that they can carry out a study and rule out possible inherited heart diseases.

With the main cardiovascular risk factors explained above clear, it is easy to deduce what measures to adopt to take care of our heart.

Do physical exercise

Starting by being very clear about: “who move your legs, move your heart“is totally true. Any physical activity what we do, will protect our heart.

Avoid elevators whenever possible, reserve a time for a walk or choose the sport you prefer. Combine it with the breathing exercises suitable and in this way you will increase the activity of your heart and you will strengthen it.

Performing daily physical exercises contributes to improve circulation increasing the amount of blood that is pumped and thus benefiting our heart health.

Practice a healthy diet and control cholesterol

On the other hand, our feeding it has to be very varied. We should consume fruits, vegetables, olive oil, foods with a high fiber and carbohydrate content and we should avoid the consumption of fats, especially saturated fats.

Avoid risky habits

Avoid stress, take things calmly, breathe and avoid stressful everyday situations, which if you stop and think about it, most of the time they should not be a cause for so much concern.

Likewise, avoid tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption, because not only your heart, but your overall health in general will thank you.

summarizingAs we have seen, the cardiovascular risks The most important are hypertension, obesity, cholesterol and diabetes. These are factors that threaten our coronary health and must be thoroughly controlled to avoid problems.

With an adequate diet we can reduce them, for them we must consume more fish than meat (only chicken and turkey), lose weight under medical supervision and exercise. Likewise, you must reduce alcohol consumption, stop smoking and eat without salt.

Keep in mind that cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in the world, so take care of your heartYour health will thank you.

How to Take Care of the Heart – Health Things