6 simple lifestyle changes that can help improve your heart health
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You can make various lifestyle changes to support your heart health and keep your heart to work properly, like eating a healthy diet for the heart, exercising and stopping tobacco. If you have heart disease or are at risk of heart disease, lifestyle changes, regular medical examinations and the use of drugs as indicated can improve your heart health.
Jump at the main dishes to remember.
1. Prioritize nutrition
Choose foods rich in nutrients to protect your heart health. Focus on a varied diet of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, lean meats and whole grains. Avoid or minimize transformed meats, added sugars, sodium, saturated fats and sugary drinks. Exchange sugary drinks for natural water, milk or unsweetened tea. Talk to a health professional, like a registered dietitian, for support.
2. regularly exercise
Inactive people are almost twice as likely to develop heart disease. Current guidelines recommend 150 minutes per week of moderate activity and cardiac pumping. This breaks down at 30 minutes a day, five times a week. However, you can break it even more according to your schedule.
If you do not have an established exercise routine, try new types of physical activity. If you are new in the exercise, consult a health care provider first and slowly start to avoid injury or other complications.
3. Maintain a healthy weight
Maintaining healthy weight can improve blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. A loss of 5% to 10% of your body weight can make a difference in your health. (If you are 200 pounds, it is a loss of 10 to 20 pounds). Eating healthier and moving more can help weight loss.
4. Sleep well
Poor sleep can contribute to your risk of cardiovascular disease (heart). Most adults need seven to nine o’clock a night. Make small changes to improve your sleep habits, like bed earlier every night or stay out of your phone before bedtime.
Speak with a health care provider if you still have trouble sleeping enough. A medical condition such as insomnia or sleep apnea can affect your ability to sleep well.
5. Avoid tobacco
Tobacco contributes to cardiac health risks, so the best thing you can do is avoid tobacco in all its forms (for example, electronic cigarettes and vaping). If you smoke, ask for help to stop. Fortunately, there are many resources available.
6. Monitor your health
Monitoring your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar can reveal a lot about your health. Maintain regular health checks where these numbers are followed and make sure you have a copy of your numbers in case you need to see them.
Some people monitor their daily activity through devices such as smart watches.
Where Cardiac drugs factors
Sometimes lifestyle changes are not enough to support your heart health. A health care provider can prescribe medication to maintain or improve your heart health.
For example, if you have high blood pressure, heart medication such as angiotensin conversion enzyme inhibitors can lower your blood pressure, by reducing your risk of heart problems or a stroke.
If you have high cholesterol, drugs can reduce your cholesterol number and reduce the chances of a medical event as a heart attack.
You may need to take more than one type of heart medication to manage heart disease. This is because drugs can do different things to help your heart.
Talk to your prescribed health care provider if you have problems with side effects or dosage management. They may be able to recommend alternative medications. However, do not stop taking medication without obtaining the approval of your health team.
Heart force with damage: what is possible
If you have a damaged or weak heart, you can strengthen it with healthy lifestyle choices by the heart. Although the hearts of some people are weakening and stiffens with age, you can always make changes to reduce your risk and maintain a strong heart. Talk to a health care provider to obtain specific advice on improving your low heart if you have heart damage.
Replacement of the valve, transplantation and related surgeries
In some cases, you may need surgery to strengthen your heart. There are different procedures and surgeries depending on the exact problem or condition. Some standard cardiac procedures and surgeries include:
- Replacement of the valve:: Surgical intervention to replace a damaged or sick valve that pumps blood towards the heart.
- Radiofrequency removal: A procedure that uses electrical signals to process abnormal heart rhythms.
- Coronary angioplasty:: A procedure to restore the appropriate blood flow to the blocked arteries.
- STENT Placement: A procedure where health care providers place a metal mesh tube to help keep an artery open after coronary angioplasty.
- Cardiac transplant: A procedure to replace a sick heart with a healthy heart.
Main to remember
- Healthy lifestyles can support and strengthen heart health.
- Some people may need additional treatments such as drugs or surgery.
- Always consult a health care provider before making major health changes, as to start a new exercise routine.