It is often said that a healthy heart is essential to overall health. Considering the various functions of the heart, this is unsurprising.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally. In 2022, approximately 175,000 people in the UK died from CVD, accounting for about 27% of all deaths. While these facts are alarming, what is perhaps even more surprising is that many people are unaware of the benefits of good heart health.
Given the importance of heart health, it is reasonable that we should seek to improve it. So, let’s explore the top tips on how to look after your heart.
Eat a Balanced Diet
One of the best ways to stay healthy is by maintaining a balanced diet. Heart-healthy foods include fruits and vegetables, which provide a range of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Other heart-beneficial foods include whole grains, lean proteins (such as fish, beans, and legumes) and nuts and seeds.
It is worth noting that while these foods are good for the heart, individual factors should play a role. For example, while whole wheat may be healthy for most people, it is not a viable option for individuals with coeliac disease. Similarly, those with nut allergies cannot benefit from the heart health advantages of nuts.
The most important aspect of maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is personalising it to your needs. Identify the best foods for heart health that meet your dietary requirements, and select the ones you enjoy. Base your diet on these foods.
Try To Stay A Healthy Weight
Being overweight raises the risk of heart disease, so maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for looking after your heart. Defining a universal ‘healthy’ weight is difficult — given that everyone has different circumstances and metabolisms — but maintaining a weight considered healthy for your body type is a great way to support heart health.
Monitor your weight regularly and, when necessary, make small but sustainable lifestyle changes to your physical activity and diet to achieve a healthier weight.
Avoid Smoking & Limit Alcohol Consumption
It’s well established that smoking and excessive alcohol consumption can harm your heart. Smoking damages blood vessels by narrowing them, increases the risk of heart attacks, raises blood pressure, and reduces oxygen in the blood — all of which can lead to heart attacks. Drinking alcohol can raise blood pressure and worsen heart failure.
You should limit alcohol intake and quit smoking to improve your heart health.
Try To Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is essential for overall health, and it’s especially important for your heart. Poor sleep can contribute to high blood pressure, obesity, and other heart-related conditions. Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night and ensure your sleep is high-quality. This means avoiding stimulants like caffeine and depressants like alcohol before bed, as these can interfere with restful sleep.
Manage Stress Levels
Stress negatively affects everyone and can be particularly harmful to heart health. Stress can affect your body in surprising ways, including its impact on the heart. Firstly, stress can increase blood pressure. It can also lead to inflammation in the body, which can further raise blood pressure and lower HDL cholesterol. Additionally, stress can disrupt your heart’s rhythm and elevate triglyceride levels in the blood.
If managing stress is difficult, consider practising meditation, deep breathing, yoga, or mindfulness techniques. It’s also important to ensure you have time to relax and recover, removing stressful factors like strained relationships and a demanding work-life balance.
Exercise Regularly
While the benefits of regular exercise are well-known, they cannot be overstated. Regardless of the type — whether it’s a brisk walk, cardio exercises like running, or functional strength training — exercise is beneficial for you and your heart.
Regular exercise strengthens your heart muscle, allowing it to pump blood more efficiently. It can also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, and improving lung function, which helps deliver more oxygen to your muscles.
Regularly Check Your Blood Pressure
Around 14.4 million adults in the UK have high blood pressure. Having high blood pressure puts you at significant risk for various conditions, including an increased risk of heart disease. This is why you should regularly check your blood pressure to ensure it stays within a healthy range, and be sure to follow medical advice.
Control Cholesterol Levels
High cholesterol is generally detrimental to heart health. Elevated levels of LDL cholesterol can lead to a buildup of fatty deposits in your arteries, restricting your heart’s ability to pump blood. These deposits can sometimes rupture and form clots, potentially causing a heart attack or stroke.
It’s important to manage your cholesterol levels and take necessary steps to keep them under control.
Manage Diabetes
It’s crucial to manage diabetes effectively, as poorly managed diabetes can significantly impact your heart. Even slightly elevated blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels, leading to serious heart problems. This occurs because your body can’t efficiently process all of the sugar, causing the excess to adhere to your blood cells.
Drink More Water
It’s commonly suggested that drinking more water improves health. However, staying hydrated genuinely benefits your health, particularly your heart. Drinking enough water aids your heart in pumping blood more efficiently, reducing strain on the heart and promoting better heart health.
At YorkTest, we want to help you live your healthiest life, and that includes looking after your heart. We offer numerous tests you can take to assess your overall and heart health. Whether it’s our easy at-home Inflammation (CRP) Test or our cholesterol test, we have a variety of tests you can use to improve your heart health.
