According to the World Health Organization, heart disease is the number one cause of death in the world and Thailand is no exception.
Heart disease kills, each year, millions of people around the world. It can be induced by many factors that are all part of our lifestyle and our diet.
Whether you have an existing risk factor of developing a disease or not, you should try your best to add the few tips we will discuss in the article into your daily routine.
Avoid stress
Stress doesn’t just affect your mental and emotional health, but also your physical health. You might have noticed that when you are stressed, you tend to experience the following physical symptoms:
- A feeling of tiredness
- Headaches
- Difficulty sleeping
If you have chronic stress, your heart works double time. If you already have existing risk factors for developing heart disease, the risks will be worsened by stress. It is, thus, of extreme importance to avoid stress as much as possible.
To avoid stress or to let go of stress people have many technics that work depending on the person. Meditation, yoga and relaxation music is a combo that is known to be efficient.
Avoiding stress has to be a regular habit, try to focus a little more on the bright side of things and on the more positive events happening around you.
Leave your work troubles at work. Spend more time with the people you love. Try to get six to eight hours of sleep every night. If you can‘t find sleep that is when you can put some relaxation music on and let it rock you into dreamland gently.
Lower your blood pressure
If you have hypertension or high blood pressure, you have higher chances of developing heart diseases.
To help decrease your blood pressure, you may do the following:
- Avoid consuming alcoholic beverages
- Cut down on sodium
- Do not smoke
- Avoid getting stress
- Manage your weight
- Exercise regularly
- Maintain a well-balanced diet
Manage your diabetes
If you have diabetes, you are also at a greater risk of developing heart disease. If not treated, it has a negative impact on many of your body’s organs and can result in a stroke, peripheral artery disease, and other conditions.
It is important to get a full health check-up regularly in order to make any changes to regulate the state of your health or take any medicines if needed depending on your health condition.
In addition, to help you manage diabetes better, you need to exercise regularly and maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet.
Manage your weight and exercise regularly
These two have already been mentioned earlier. The bottom line is you need to stay active. We can not emphasize it enough but, staying active is extremely important for everybody, overweight or not. It is not only beauty tip but health advice.
There is no need to worry. If you are not into sports like that, it‘s ok. You just need to incorporate physical activity into your lifestyle as much as possible. For example, walk at least 30 minutes to one hour every day. Take the stairs at work instead of the lift.
Walk your dog, if you have one. If you are waiting for something, for example, if you are baking something for 20 minutes, use those 20 minutes to pace back and forth.
The goal is to keep moving.
Maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet
Your diet is a vital aspect in the prevention of heart disease. You can decrease your chances of developing heart disease dramatically simply by maintaining a nutritious and well-balanced diet.
This includes sources of omega-3 fatty acids such as tuna and salmon, whole grains, and raw fruits and vegetables. The famous Mediterranean diet has been proved to lower the incidence of heart disease. This diet involves:
- Consuming fish two times per week
- Increasing the number of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables
- Decreasing consumption of red meat to once or twice per month
- Consuming lots of nuts, herbs, and healthy fats such as olive oil
To prevent heart disease, you also need to stay away from certain foods and beverages such as the following:
- Alcohol
- Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil
- Foods containing high amounts of sodium
- Foods containing high amounts of sugar
You can also choose to consult a nutritionist to determine how many calories you should be consuming daily, and even prepare a meal plan for you to follow.
Quit smoking
This is perhaps the most important thing to do if you want to prevent heart disease. It is the number one risk factor for stroke, heart attack, and coronary heart disease.
Smoking results in the accumulation of plaque in your heart’s arteries, which would ultimately cause them to harden – a condition called atherosclerosis. It also has a harmful effect on your body’s organs, making your body less functional.
Countless studies have proven that quitting smoking lowers the risk of heart disease. In fact, the effects are rather instant.
Quitting smoking will immediately increase your supply of oxygen, improve your blood circulation, and lower your blood pressure. These positive effects will then increase your energy and make it easier for you to exercise.
Eventually, your body will start healing.
If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read about related topics on the articles linked below.
Atherosclerosis – prevention and treatment
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