The Way To A Healthy Heart
The single most important thing you can do, if you want to live longer is to quit smoking. Smokers are twice as likely to have heart attacks than a non smoker. It's never too late to quit, the moment you decide to quit, and actually quit, the risk of heart attacks is reduced. With the introduction of banning smoking in public places there has never been a more opportune time to pack the habit in for good.
As we all well know, smoking isn't the only cause of heart problems, high blood pressure greatly increases the risk of heart attack and excess salt is a contributing factor to high blood pressure. Remember, salt sprinkled over food isn't the only way we absorb it. Salt comes in all shapes and sizes, many of the food items we automatically think of as being healthy are loaded with salt. Many of the popular breakfast cereals contain high levels of salt as do a lot of breads, rolls and pizzas. Perhaps more obvious contributors of salt to our systems are crisps, salted nut, pork pies, sauces and soups and a very high salt content food is our favourite take away curry!
Another one to watch is your alcohol intake. Alcohol in excess can damage the heart muscle. It also increases blood pressure and just to make things even worse alcohol can lead to gaining weight and gaining weight can lead to high blood pressure and high blood pressure can lead to heart attack. An alcohol limit of between one and two units a day is the advised quantity. Binge drinking greatly increases the risk of heart attack
A well balanced, healthy diet consisting of plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, along with wholegrain bread, rice, pasta and oily fish can help reduce the risk of heart diseases. The ones to try and avoid. you know, the ones you like the best, gooey cakes, chocy bikkies, tatty oggies (Cornish Pasties to you) and dairy products, these are the ones high in sugar and saturated fats.
The number of obese and overweight people in the UK is rising rapidly, at the moment more than fifty per cent of the population are overweight. Carrying all that excess fat increases the risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease which as we all know are life threatening conditions. Those overweight or obese can improve their general health just by making small changes to their diet and doing a little more in the way of exercise.
Your heart needs exercise, after all it is muscle. It needs to be fit to keep on pumping the blood around your body twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and three hundred and sixty five days a year. It needs to be fit. A good goal would be thirty minutes a day of moderate intensity exercise. No need to go mad at first, if half an hour seems too much, begin with more gentle exercise for as long as you are comfortable with. The benefits of regular exercise will not only improve your physical health, you will feel better in yourself and feel more alert.
If you have any concerns about your general health, get checked out by your doctor. He can check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes, get yours checked out before it happens to you, not after! Your liver can produce high levels of cholesterol in the blood from saturated fats, this can lead to fatty deposits in your coronary arteries which in turn leads to blocked arteries, strokes, coronary heart diseases and blood circulation problems. Eating healthy high fibre foods, oats, porridge, vegetables, fruit and nuts can help to lower your cholesterol levels. Stress is also believed to increase blood pressure, perhaps not directly, but a person suffering from stress is more likely to smoke excessively, drink too much and not take the trouble to eat healthily. All the things that increase the risk of heart attacks. There is evidence that a close relative, alive or deceased, who is or was overweight, suffered from high blood pressure, smoked excessively and was generally unfit could be putting you at risk of the same problems.
To finish, let's take a look at some of the early signs of heart problems. If you suffer from tightening of the chest or discomfort of the chest or stomach, neck or arm when you are doing something energetic which then disappears when you relax, it may be the first signs of angina. Angina, left untreated can lead to heart attack.
If you have any doubts what-so-ever, see your doctor. The earlier heart problems are diagnosed the more chance you have of complete recovery. Your doctor can treat early problems far easier than he can a heart attack!
About the Author
My name is Derrick Wilcox. Although I am no doctor or heart specialist, I have learnt an awful lot about heart diseases, I have learnt about heart diseases for my own benefit, I don't want to go the way my Mother, my best friend and several others close to me have gone, all have died from associated heart problems. Visit my site http://www.ahealthyheart.info to find out how you can look after your heart and live longer.
Tell others about
this page:
Comments? Questions? Email Here