Keeping your heart healthy is one of the most important things you can do. After all, you’re completely reliant on the organ to push blood around your system and keep you alive.
The first symptom of heart disease is often the last: a massive heart attack. So prevention is more important than cure. But even if you do develop symptoms, they can be highly unpleasant, ranging from angina to erectile dysfunction.
The good news is that there are plenty of things you can do to keep your heart healthy and on the right track. It takes decades for heart disease to develop, but only a few weeks to reverse if you adopt the right strategy. This makes seeing a heart specialist in New Jersey or wherever is close to you an important part of catching heart issues before they become a bigger problem.
So what can you do to improve heart health? Let’s take a look at some of your options.
Practice Regular Hygiene
One of the best ways to protect your heart health is to practice regular hygiene. Keeping yourself clean reduces the risk of getting infections that can harm cardiovascular health.
Historically, many people got rheumatic heart, a condition where the heart is weakened because of the presence of a nasty virus or bacteria. These conditions aren’t as common these days, but you can still damage your cardiovascular system if you have gum disease or another chronic infection that damages heart muscle cells.
Love Your Veggies
You can also protect your heart by loving your veggies. People who eat the most whole foods tend to be the healthiest.
Researchers aren’t quite sure why vegetables and beans are so protective but it seems to be true. It could be because of their high fiber content, nutrient density, or another factor. The underlying reasons aren’t what’s important. What matters, according to researchers, is that it works.
Research The Latest Information
Data around heart health changes regularly as new scientific discoveries come to light. For this reason, it’s also essential to keep up to date with the latest information. You don’t have to become a scientist, but you should look out for new types of thinking in the field and use it to figure out what type of lifestyle is most likely to protect you.
Try to avoid the temptation to let new evidence sway you one way and then the other. Spend some time digesting new information before coming to a conclusion. A headline result may not reflect the actual findings of a specific study.
Go For Regular Checkups
You should also consider heading to the doctor for regular checkups. Medics are now pretty good at tracking your heart health and have all sorts of tests to tell you your risk. One such test is an echocardiogram, which can provide detailed images of your heart’s structure and function. You might want to look into getting an echocardiogram in Denville, NJ or other nearby locations for a comprehensive assessment, especially if you have been experiencing chest pain or discomfort.
Data won’t provide you with the full picture, but it will tell you a great deal about your heart health. Your LDL and APOE figures are the most critical, followed by other metrics. Using the available data, physicians can tell you the likelihood of a cardiac event over the next five to ten years, and what you need to do to reduce the risk of that happening.
Keep Cholesterol Levels Down
Another great strategy is to keep your cholesterol levels down. The best way to do this is to reduce the intake of dietary cholesterol, a proven promoter of higher concentrations of cholesterol in the blood strenuously denied by some of the most vocal people in the health industry. You can also reduce your intake of animal foods in general and watch your numbers improve.
Keeping cholesterol levels low is one of the best ways to cut the risk of a cardiac event. People with total cholesterol below 160 mg/dL are far less likely to have a heart attack than those with more than 200 mg/dL.
Get The Right Herbal Support
You should also make sure you’re getting the right herbal support to maintain cardiovascular health. Certain supplements can have a profound effect on the overall health of your heart muscle, veins, and arteries, letting you pump more blood around your body.
Red Boost blood flow support is one example of how these supplements work. The basic idea is to take a bunch of natural ingredients and combine them in a way that causes blood vessels to dilate. The more space blood has to flow, the lower your blood pressure is, and the more energetic and lively you feel.
Nitric oxide production is essential. It is a vasodilator and something that beetroot produces when you eat it. The more you can produce, the wider your blood vessels will open, and the healthier they will be.
Reduce Your Alcohol Intake
Another powerful strategy for heart health is to reduce your alcohol intake. Consuming fewer beers, wines, and spirits can actually improve your heart health and put you on the right track.
Some researchers used to believe that red wine was protective or enhanced heart health. However, more recent investigations suggest that that’s false. Alcohol appears to harm heart function, regardless of how you consume it.
Don’t Smoke
People interested in their heart health also avoid smoking. Cigarettes contain elements that actively damage artery walls.
Smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease and can double your chances of developing the condition later in life. The good news is that you can almost completely eliminate your increased risk by quitting smoking long-term.
Move Every Day
Another not-so-big secret of a healthy heart is to move every day. Physical activity improves heart function and keeps you healthy.
Aim for around 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week. Cycling, brisk walking, and swimming all count.
Also, move as much as you can in other ways, including simply being active around the house or at work. The more gentle movements you can do, the better it is for your health and longevity.
Manage Stress Levels
Finally, you should find ways to manage your stress levels if heart health is important to you. People who can remain calmer for longer are much less likely to experience heart issues as they go through life. Stress leads to hormone changes that can cause damage to the heart muscle and weaken it over time.