7 Good Habits to Keep Your Heart Healthy

7 Good Habits to Keep Your Heart Healthy

Do you want to know about 7 good habits to keep your heart healthy? Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in the world. However, you can significantly reduce the risk by changing your lifestyle.

1. Move

Movement is essential for the heart: it strengthens the cardiorespiratory system, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, and improves insulin sensitivity. And most importantly, it benefits, no matter how little you do. Moving at least somewhat better than not moving at all.

The ideal amount of loads per week is 150 minutes of aerobic exercise of medium intensity and 60 minutes of strength training.


Time aerobic workouts can be broken as you prefer, for example, five days a week for 30 minutes or three times for 50 minutes. Such loads include running, swimming, brisk walking, cycling, basketball, tennis, and even gardening.

During strength training, you need to work out the main groups of muscles (legs, back, shoulders, arms). To do this, you can do with weights, barbell or elastic tape, do exercises with its own weight (squats and pushups, yoga). Intensive housework will do as well.

Do not worry if you do not fit exactly in the recommended framework. Any physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. If you have a little free time, pay attention to intensive interval training. The first step will keep your heart healthy.

2. Watch For Blood Pressure

Increased pressure (hypertension) leads to mechanical stress on the walls of the arteries, because of which they narrow and harden. This increases the risk of blood plaques and cracks in the vessels, which can lead to stroke. The ideal pressure is 120/80. The upper value reflects the systolic pressure - the pressure at the time of heartbeat. Lower diastolic pressure, pressure at rest.

Increased risk of hypertension in older people, people with obesity, diabetes and other serious illnesses, as well as those who consume a lot of alcohol.

If the pressure exceeds 120/80, you may have prehypertension. And if it is higher than 140/90, you have complete hypertension. Pressure changes throughout the day, rising and falling depending on food and alcohol, in response to caffeine and stress. To understand what pressure you usually have, measure it several times a day.

To reduce the pressure, try:

• Lose weight: With overweight, the heart needs to work more to drive blood through the body.
• Reduce alcohol intake. Men should consume no more than two, and women should not consume more than one serving per day.
• Eat less salt: The amount of salt per day should not exceed five grams. Most people consume twice as much. 2nd way is also a good habit to keep your heart healthy.

3. Watch Your Cholesterol Levels

Cholesterol levels are advised to check every 4-6 years. At the same time pay attention to:

• Cholesterol HDL. It is considered useful for the cardiovascular system, its level should be high.
• LDL cholesterol. It is harmful to health, the level should be low.
• Triglycerides. This is the type of fat that is in the blood. Elevated triglycerides are associated with heart disease and diabetes.

Proper diet can bring cholesterol levels back to normal. Fatty fish, apples, strawberries, citrus fruits, legumes, vegetables, and flax seeds reduce LDL levels. Nuts increase HDL. And with an increased level of triglycerides, it is best to reduce the consumption of empty carbohydrates. Try to eliminate sugar, bread, pasta, fruit juices and other processed carbohydrates from your diet.

4. Watch Your Blood Sugar Levels (Good Habits to Keep Your Heart Healthy)

If you have high blood sugar levels, be sure to consult your doctor to determine if you have diabetes. Please note that some factors may increase the level of sugar and affect the result of the analysis. These are lack of sleep, obesity, alcohol and caffeine use, taking contraceptives, antidepressants, remedies for rhinitis, and hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle, chronic stress.

Do not forget that the sugar level can be measured only after you have not eaten for eight hours. Its good habit to keep your heart healthy.

5. Eat Properly

All products can be divided into three categories: beneficial to the heart, harmful and neutral.

What to eat more

• Plant foods: nuts, seeds, legumes, grains.
• Fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Seafood, especially oily fish: salmon, sardines, mackerel.
• Fermented foods (yogurt, kefir).
• Healthy fats (olive oil).

What to avoid

• Products with sugar (carbonated drinks, juices, sweets).
• Processed carbohydrates (ready breakfast, white bread, biscuits, pasta).
• Meat products (sausage, sausages, ham, hamburgers).
• Ready-made products with a lot of salt, sugar, fats, preservatives (frozen foods, chips, nuggets, canned soup, instant noodles).

What to use moderately

• Butter.
• Cheese.
• Red meat.
• Milk.
• Eggs

The Mediterranean diet is also good for the heart. It is based on olive oil, nuts, seafood, fruits, poultry, beans, and vegetables. According to the researchers, those who followed this diet were much less likely to have heart attacks, strokes, and death from cardiovascular diseases than people who followed a normal low-fat diet.

6. Watch for Weight

Fat cells produce substances that increase inflammation, violate insulin sensitivity and lead to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Therefore, it is not surprising that obesity is one of the leading causes of heart disease. People with a lot of visceral fat are especially at risk. It accumulates in the abdomen around the internal organs. This fat is much more dangerous than subcutaneous and harder to get rid of it.

The amount of visceral fat can be determined using the body mass index. It is calculated by the ratio of height and weight. A BMI of less than 25 is considered optimal, a higher figure already indicates obesity.

But you cannot completely rely on BMI. In people with a large amount of muscle mass, the indicator may be more than 25, despite the low percentage of fat mass. Conversely, you can be very thin, but have a high percentage of visceral fat.

If a person looks healthy, it does not mean that he is really healthy. In any case, you need to look after yourself and undergo examinations. Another good habit to keep your heart healthy.

7. Give Up Smoking

Smoking causes emphysema (excessive accumulation of air in the organs), cancer, periodontitis and causes damage to almost every organ. It is especially dangerous for the heart because tobacco smoke damages blood vessels. In smokers, the risk of heart attack is doubled, and the risk of stroke - three times. Electronic cigarettes also increase the risk of heart disease.
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