Heart disease is a leading killer of Americans today. At least 735,000 adults have a heart attack every year. This translates into a heart attack every 43 seconds. High risk factors for heart disease are high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol and smoking. Approximately half of all Americans have at least one of these. There are ways to protect yourself from heart disease. Experts at many healthcare services agencies recommend the following tips.
Tips to Prevent Heart Disease:
Exercise more. Most people do not work out enough. It is estimated that at least seven out of ten adults do not get enough exercise. Inactivity is a leading cause of death worldwide. Healthcare services experts recommend people get at least 30 minutes of moderate or high intensity exercise every day to ward off heart disease. If you cannot get this all at once, you can break that down into shorter portions. Three ten minute workouts will do you as much good as one 30 minute session. Cardiology care experts say that any exercise is better than none.
- Lose weight. If you lose as little as five to 10% of your body weight and you will see a big change in your blood pressure. It will also translate into an improvement in your blood sugar. Weight carried around your middle is especially worrisome as it can be an indication of problems with your heart.
- Stay away from tobacco smoke. Whether you smoke cigarettes, pipes or cigars or if you are around people who do, tobacco smoke is bad for your health. Avoid needing to spend time in healthcare services facilities by staying away from tobacco smoke. If you smoke, it is never too late to quit. This could be one of the best things you can do for your health. If you are around second hand smoke, it is also very dangerous so avoid that as much as you can.
- Eat a more colorful diet. The more colorful you diet is, the healthier it is. Try adding colorful fruits and vegetables to your diet. Eat more whole grains, complex carbohydrates and healthy protein from fish and poultry. Cut back on fatty meats such as beef and pork, simple carbohydrates like white potatoes, pasta and white bread. The World Health Organization has said that consuming processed meats carries a similar cancer risk to smoking cigarettes. Eating more fruits and vegetables will make you feel full sooner and can help you eat less and lose weight. Also cut back on sugary drinks like sodas and opt for more healthy water.
- Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Some studies have shown that drinking some wine can help your heart but than means people should drink a glass or two of it with dinner, any more and the unhealthy aspects of drinking it outweigh the health benefits.
- There are a lot of ways to get healthier. The last thing most people want to do is spend a lot of time in healthcare services facilities like hospitals. There are some things you can do to set yourself up for success:
- Get support. Tell people around you what you are trying to do. Find someone to go to the gym with you. Many people are trying to do similar things. Find or start a Facebook group of people with the same goals. When you want to give up, connect with your network.
- Set goals. Set goals you can achieve. You cannot expect to lose ten pounds (or more) over a weekend or run a marathon after a week. Set smaller goals and celebrate making them.
- Find motivators. For some people, getting healthy is a good enough goal to get them to the gym. For many of us, it is not. Think about looking good for an event or being able to do something, like run your first 5K.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” You’ve probably heard that saying. That is very true when it comes to protecting your heart from cardiac problems. Quality healthcare includes preventative care, you are the best person to administer this. Taking steps to get and stay healthy will prevent you from having to spend any time at a heart center and everyone wants that.
