Heart attack prevention: The best lifestyle to reduce your risk of a heart attack
The leading cause of a heart attack is coronary artery disease – the most common form of heart disease. Fortunately, there’s many things you can do to reduce your risk of developing this condition.
One key element to leading a healthy lifestyle is to get your body moving more often.
This could be brisk walking, jogging, swimming, dancing – whatever gets your heart beating faster.
Regular bouts of exercise has a multitude of health benefits – pointed out by Medline Plus.
One positive side effect from exercising is that it helps to strengthen your heart muscle and improving circulation.
In addition, exercising can help you to lower your blood pressure – high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease.
Moreover, it’s a great way to keep your cholesterol levels under control.
Too much cholesterol in your bloodstream can clog up your arteries, including the one serving blood to your heart.
Burning off excessive calories can also help you to maintain a healthy weight.
Did you know that being overweight can increase your risk of developing heart disease?
Well, it can. In fact, being overweight, having high blood pressure and cholesterol levels increases a person’s risk of a heart attack.
It’s amazing how one simple solution – exercise – could provide such a positive impact on somebody’s health.
If you struggle to incorporate exercise into your daily routine, try starting off with something you enjoy.
It’ll be helpful to turn it into a habit… even if that means taking 10 minutes of your day to walk around your home – it’s better to start somewhere than not to start at all.
As well as exercising more (and daily), to prevent a heart attack it’s important to eat a healthy diet.
A healthy diet consists of plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Limit your intake (or avoid) saturated fat, excess salt consumption and added sugars.
Clearly, it’s important what you put into your body and this includes refraining from consuming toxins.
Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol counts as a toxin; it can raise your blood pressure.
In addition, alcohol is classed as empty calories, which can cause weight gain.
Cigarette smoking – another toxin – raises your blood pressure and puts you at an increased risk of coronary heart disease and a heart attack.
As soon as you stub out that last cigarette (for good, if you do smoke), your chances of developing heart disease decreases.
Managing stress is another key component to living a healthy lifestyle, as stress can raise your blood pressure.
Extreme stress can be a trigger for a heart attack. Good stress management techniques include exercise, listening to music, or meditating.
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