8 Lifestyle Changes That Can Prevent Heart Diseases

Medical researches have suggested that there has been a stupendous rise in the rate of death due to heart diseases. In fact, the number of heart patients aged between 15 and 30 years are increasing at an alarming rate. People having a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, etc are at a greater risk to suffer from cardiovascular disorders. But have you ever thought why we are witnessing more heart patients now than ever before? Why our ancestors rarely died because of stroke or heart disease?

There has been a 360 degree change in our lifestyle, food consumption patterns and the race for success and money has compelled us to spend more time at workplace. This change has ironically deteriorated our health, peace of mind by distorting work and personal life balance and even made many of us insomniacs. Addiction to caffeine/ smoking/ alcohol/ junk or processed foods, lack of physical activities, insufficient sleep, rise in stress, etc are some of the major reasons why we are dealing with lifestyle diseases.

Your heart needs greater care as you age and if your heart’s health foundation is strong at an early age, then you will less susceptible to various lifestyle diseases, which in turn, affects functioning of the heart. We all know about the cherished notion that prevention is better than cure, but when it comes to implementation, it is our lack of determination and self control that ruins all our petty efforts. If you want to save yourself from critical heart surgeries and want to enjoy greater life span, then here are 8 lifestyle changes that can prevent heart diseases, which you must implement now to get benefited later:

1. Stay Away From Smoking & Alcohol

Most of us are already aware that smoking and alcohol does nothing positive to our health and it only gives you a temporary adrenaline rush or a stress free feeling. Alcohol can definitely damage the liver and smoking is the vital reason why people have lung diseases. However, many studies have found that having small quantities of wine on alternate days can in fact, release essential antioxidants within the body that helps in keeping your heart young. But anything in excess can have retrogressive impact on your health. Moreover, inhaling smoke released from cigarettes can also damage your respiratory organs in the long run. Better stay away from these bad habits which may ruin your health foundation at a young age.

2. Monitor Your Cholesterol

Cardiovascular diseases are largely an outcome of abnormal or high blood lipids. These lipids, known as cholesterol are present in two varieties – LDL & HDL. While the LDL cholesterol is the bad cholesterol, which in excess can accumulate in the arteries causing plaque formation, the HDL cholesterol is good cholesterol, which your body requires in larger amounts to keep the pumping and flow of blood regulated. The three major determinants that are responsible for the amount of cholesterol in the blood are – the amount of cholesterol produced by liver, the amount absorbed by the intestinal tract and finally your age, as the cholesterol increases with age.

The level of HDL cholesterol should be higher than LDL cholesterol and thereby, when you reach 30s, you must start having less oily and junk food so that the production of LDL cholesterol is controlled. In case you have a family history of heart disease, then you need to monitor your body’s cholesterol at a young age to enjoy longer and disease free lifespan.

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3. Have A Balanced Diet

Having a balanced diet in today’s tedious lifestyle seems to be an impossible task. But balanced diet is an important factor to enjoy great health, specifically in the old age. Our obsession for outside food that may be unhygienic and unhealthy can be a possible reason for increase in high blood pressure, high cholesterol, thyroid, diabetes, etc.

Prefer having home cooked food that is prepared using less oil and spices. Include variety of fruits and salads in your diet so that your body gets sufficient dose of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Plan to have calories as per recommendation of medical experts. It is suggested that males and females following a sedentary lifestyle with adequate amount of physical activities should have about 1800 – 2000 calories and 1500 calories per day, respectively.

Therefore, get your a power packed breakfast that consists of dairy products and multi-grain products that are rich in carbohydrates and proteins. Keep your lunch lighter than the breakfast and enjoy healthier snack options in the evening. Try to have your dinner 3 hours before heading to the bed so that your stomach doesn’t feel heavy. Let your dinner be extremely light as you don’t have any activity scheduled to burn those calories.

4. Abstain From Habituating Your Body To Medication

Recent studies have proved that having medicines frequently can make your immunity system weak and dependant on external sources to revive the body from infections. If you have developed the habit of popping in various kinds of tablets either to ward off your frequent cold and headaches or to fulfil your body’s nutrition requirements, then it starts affecting your body’s metabolism and can weaken your body’s ability to fight off diseases. Follow the Hippocrates saying by making food your medicine. Take nutrition rich food to deal with seasonal health issues and analyse the reason for frequent headaches or body pain and before gulping down a pill, ensure that you take natural measures first. Being addicted to such chemical ridden pills can pose a largely threat to your health in the later age.

5. Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, damages the inner lining of the blood vessels and in most cases, the symptoms are not even felt and late diagnosis results in prolonged medication, which in turn can adversely affect the functioning of the internal organs. High blood pressure is called the silent killer and it is heredity and increasing age that build the risk. Higher the blood pressure, higher is risk of suffering from heart ailments. To maintain healthy blood pressure, you need to cut down your salt intake by you reach 30s and must indulge in workouts at least 5 days a week so that your body’s blood circulation is optimised.

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6. Exercise At Least 20 Minutes Daily

It has been studied that obesity is occurring in different parts of the world like epidemic and there has been a significant surge in the number of obese patients belonging to the age group of 10 to 25. Obesity at an early age can distort the functioning of the metabolic system and can be a possible reason for many other lifestyle diseases such as thyroid, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis, stroke, etc. Therefore, burning the consumed calories is the only way to ensure effective working of your internal organs. Studies suggest that people working out for 20 minutes daily or at least for 5 days a week can minimize the risk of obesity and heart diseases by 70 percent, provided that they also have balanced diet.

7. Sleep Tight

A study conducted by Harvard showed that 70000 women who slept for less than 7 hours were at a greater risk of suffering from heart disease. Medical experts have revealed that lack of sleep distorts hormonal activities, increases blood pressure, causes depression and stress along with affecting blood sugar levels. It has been witnessed that sleeping less than 8 hours causes slow brain development in case of children and increases physical and mental fatigue, which may become a potential cause of heart ailments in the future.

Another study warns that if you snore during sleeping then you may have sleep apnea, a condition where the person stops breathing multiple times while sleeping. It may give rise to high blood pressure and other medical problems, which is ultimately a threat to your heart.

8. Manage Your Work & Personal Life Aptly

Stress basically arises from mismanagement. Your career goals, ambitions and dreams drive you to work hard and this ends up in bringing work to your personal space. Working in office and continuing the same at home and spending less time with family is yet another reason for distress in personal life. This rising stress and pressure in mind may lead to distortion in sleep and food consumption patterns and this kind of routine starts killing your heart health. Medical experts suggest that planning your day by maintaining apt balance between work and personal life can reduce stress, depression and anxiety issues on daily basis, which will ensure a healthy heart foundation.