Everyone wants to live a long, healthy, and wholesome life, but to achieve this objective, you need to have a heart that is strong as an ox.
Unfortunately, many people have misconstrued notions about healthy living and heathy heart. They perceive it to be a dull and boring task, where you have to sweat at the gym all day and eat pulverized greens.
However, unlike this bleak image, having a strong heart is not as daunting. Following are 5 easy tips to help your heart become stronger!
Diet
Your diet plays a principal role in the health of your heart, as your Cardiologist in Lahore would testify as well. Even if the fried burgers, and cheesy pastas might taste oh-so-good, know that hospital food is never fun. And neither is heart disease.
Thus, be sensible about your dietary choices. Make sure to eat a healthy breakfast. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be your staple. Go whole; eat whole wheat carbs rather than refined flour, as it has more fiber and is better for your health.
Similarly, even if red meat is amongst your favorite meals, indulge in it only occasionally. Instead, diversify your palate by eating more healthy seafood. It is however okay to eat the burgers that you like so much, once every blue moon.
Sleep
The easiest thing to do for your heart is get adequate sleep. Not getting sufficient sleep, and getting too much sleep, both are not good for your heart. People who do not get enough shuteye are at higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, sleep deprivation also increases risk factors like stress, obesity etc., that too, in turn, impact your heart.
An adult requires 7-9 hours of quality sleep daily. So, make sure that you get ballpark hours of sleep. Enforcing sleep hygiene is helpful in this endeavor; having a proper routine whereby you go to bed and wake up at specific times, don’t use screen in bed, avoid eating and caffeine right before bedtime.
Destress
We do not volunteer for stress. No one willingly signs up for the clammy hands, palpitations, bleak disposition, and perpetual anxiety. But while we cannot control stress around us, we can certainly improve our response to stress.
Body releases the hormone cortisol in response to stress, which in the long term causes hypertension, cholesterol problems, heart disease, increased risk of stroke. Moreover, stress also increases the risk factors for heart disease as well.
Therefore, you need to have effective stress management techniques, in order to keep your heart strong.
Breathing exercises are helpful for curbing stress, especially since they moderate the heart rate as well. Another way to destress is by having good social support; talking to friends and family and being around them is very therapeutic.
It is also pertinent that you do not over stretch yourself; if you need to live long, you need to stop volunteering for stress. Learn to delegate the workload and ask for help. Counselling is also beneficial for people struggling with anxiety and deep founded issues.
Get moving
Being sedentary may be a part and parcel of your job, but to have a stronger heart, you need to keep moving. Sitting still for long periods of time is not good for your heart, as it exponentially increases the risk for heart disease.
Alongside not taking breaks from sitting, you should also make exercise a part of your life.
And while it may not be your cup of tea, you need to incorporate physical activity in your life for a healthy and long life.
You do not need to start off with high intensity training or go too much out of your comfort zone. Doing a few minutes of walking every day is a good start, and you can progressively increase your work session, in terms of time and complexity, both.
Certain exercises are especially good for the heart. Aerobic exercise improves circulation, lowers blood pressure, and makes your heart stronger overall as well. Brisk walking, cycling, swimming are some examples of aerobic exercises.
Strength training is also good for your heart; it helps expunge fat from the body. Lesser the fat, lesser is the risk of clogged arteries. Moreover, when done in conjunction with aerobic exercise, it also helps to lower the levels of bad cholesterol in the body.
No smoking
Smoking is everything that is bad for the body and the soul. You might have reached for the cigarettes because you wanted an outlet for stress, or because of peer pressure, or perhaps due to curiosity.
But what people often take for granted is how quick one gets hooked to the cigarettes, and how bad they are for health.
They pose risk for not just the lungs, but also greatly endangered heart as well. The chemicals in the cigarette clog the blood vessels, constricting and restricting blood flow around the body.
Smoking also causes coronary heart disease, alongside increased risk of heart attack. It also causes hypertension, and even stroke, which in best case, causes debilitation, and in the worst case, death.
Furthermore, cigarettes also lead to aneurysms and peripheral artery disease. Even e-cigarettes and vapes are not good for your health either.
Having established the dangers of smoking, it is therefore vital to steer clear of it to have a strong heart. Not only is it imperative that you yourself not smoke, but you also need to avoid secondhand smoke. Passive smoking is just as bad for your heart. People who have a history of smoking should get their heart evaluated by their Cardiologist in Islamabad.
