Taking care of your cardiovascular health involves a host of things, which include focusing on making lifestyle choices that improve your cardiovascular health. This involves eating a heart-healthy diet, getting regular exercise, stress management, and avoiding tobacco and alcohol. Moreover, regular or frequent health screenings are very important for the management of key risk factors such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
Here are some ways to take care of your cardiovascular health:
Adopting a heart-healthy diet
Prioritise adopting a heart-healthy diet, such as having a balanced eating pattern with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes.
Opt for plant-based proteins, lean poultry, fish such as grilled chicken, grilled fish, and dietary fat while reducing the intake of processed and fatty foods.
Reduce intake of saturated fats, which come from red meats, full-fat dairy, and limit consumption of trans fat found in fried foods. Instead of regular oil, utilise healthy oils such as olive oil,etc.
Reduce intake of sugar and salt since excessive sodium is known to lead to an increase in blood pressure levels. Limit consumption of sugary drinks, sweets contributing to heart disease and diabetes.
Regular Exercise
The American Heart Association has recommended combining aerobic exercise with resistance training for better heart health.
Get at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week (30 minutes daily, five days a week) such as swimming, cycling, or brisk walking.
Avoid a sedentary lifestyle or prolonged periods of sitting. Instead, take up small activities such as moving around, climbing the stairs, and others.
Maintain a healthy weight
The risk of heart disease increases with carrying excessive weight. It’s best to follow a diet friendly for a heart-healthy lifestyle and avoid foods that increase LDL or Low-Density Lipoprotein, while focusing on foods that raise HDL or good cholesterol, such as chia seeds, olive oil, walnuts, almonds, fatty fish, green leafy vegetables, etc.
Manage stress
Find healthy and effective ways to deal with and cope with stress such as through meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, physical activity, mental activities, etc.
Have a support system by connecting with others meaningfully and getting as well as offering emotional support to deal with hard times and manage stress.
Quit the habit of overeating, smoking, and alcohol intake, as this can be harmful to heart health.
Prioritise a good amount of sleep
Aim for at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every day since poor sleep quality is associated with high blood pressure, risk of obesity, chronic stress, and other health ailments. Follow a consistent sleep schedule that aligns with your everyday routine.
Go through frequent health checkups
Follow regular health checkups where you screen and test the factors affecting your heart health, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels, and others, since these typically have no such symptoms.
At the end of the day, follow a lifestyle and diet that is good for your heart health and overall wellbeing, which includes physical and mental health, as these two are closely interlinked!
