Many of the things we can do to increase our chances of living a long, healthy life are under our control, including the prevention of heart disease. If you want to improve your heart health naturally, here are 9 important actions to take.
Methods of Enhancing Heart Health Naturally
Here are seven fundamental ways to boost your heart health naturally without any artificial means.
1) Get up and move about more; reduce your sitting time
“I have two doctors, my left leg and my right,” wrote G. M. Trevelyan, a British historian, and an enthusiastic long-distance walker, he was absolutely correct. The positive effects of exercise on health have been shown in hundreds of research. “Regular physical exercise is one of the most essential things you can do for your health,” says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These are some of the things it may aid in:
- Stay at a healthy weight.
- Reduce the risk of heart disease.
- Adjust your body fat percentage (your fat-to-muscle ratio).
- Reduce the occurrence of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome by bringing down blood sugar levels.
- Reduce the likelihood of hypertension and lower blood pressure.
- Cancer risk is lowered.
- Intensify bone health.
- Reduce stress.
- Improve the quality of your sleep.
- Strengthen your muscles and joints to reduce the risk of injury from falling.
- Maximize your potential for long and healthy life.
2) Reduce excess fat percentage, particularly belly fat
A person’s risk of developing atherosclerotic plaque and having a heart attack increases in direct proportion to their body mass index. Overweight individuals are more likely to have high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and unhealthy levels of cholesterol, all of which are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Obesity is also associated with heart failure, a life-threatening illness in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to fulfill the body’s demands. Abdominal fat has been demonstrated to be very harmful in several investigations. One recent study found that even among adults of normal weight, having a pot belly significantly increased the chance of dying.
Belly fat doesn’t only exist there as a space-hog. As a result, the whole body is flooded with inflammatory substances like cytokines. That’s a huge concern since researchers believe that chronic inflammation is a key mechanism connecting fat and death-dealing conditions like heart disease.
Chemicals, such as steroid hormones, are produced by belly fat cells that increase the likelihood of weight growth. Indeed, this is a self-perpetuating loop. Weight loss is impeded by the production of extra fat-storage hormones in proportion to the amount of abdominal fat a person has. Hormones have wrought even more atrocities. When we reach the stage of abdominal obesity (waist circumference higher than 35 inches in women and 40 inches in men), our levels of insulin, a highly essential fat-storage hormone, are typically severely impacted, leading to further metabolic issues.
3) Reduce Levels of Non-HDL Cholesterol
The medical establishment has long advocated that decreasing LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol should be a main therapeutic goal for preventing cardiovascular events. Also, lowering bad LDL cholesterol remains a priority.
Non-HDL cholesterol, which includes LDL as well as other “bad” particles that contribute to the buildup of cholesterol-filled plaques in the arterial wall, is becoming recognized as a more accurate predictor of cardiovascular disease risk. Non-HDL cholesterol levels are often reported on modern lipid panels alongside HDL and LDL levels.
4) Give up tobacco and enjoy life
Tobacco causes as many deaths in the United States every day as three complete jumbo aircraft falling into the ground would do. Smoking causes a wide range of significant health problems, some of which may be fatal.
- Heart disease.
- Breathing problems.
- Lung cancer.
- Kidney cancer.
- Emphysema.
Even more so, there is solid and persistent scientific evidence that secondhand smoke poses a substantial health danger to anyone in close proximity to the smoker, particularly youngsters.
5) Minimizes Stress
It’s 3 a.m., and the dog next door is still barking. There are 12 persons in front of me in the supermarket checkout line. Your car’s battery just died. A call from your mom with some alarming health news.
To which of the above do you respond? Where do you stand on the spectrum between sanity and insanity? When we let the stresses of daily life get to us, it may lead to all sorts of negative health effects, from elevated blood pressure to IBS.
We can physically feel how stress affects our hearts. Heart attacks are three times as common in the year after the loss of a wife, and the number of heart attacks that occur during earthquakes and on Mondays is doubled, according to studies. Feeling anxious may make us more likely to engage in risky habits like smoking, avoiding exercise, and eating at fast food restaurants.
Summing Up
Modifying one’s way of life may have a profound effect on one’s heart health naturally and happiness. It may seem alluring to begin with baby steps. There’s a chance you’re considering making little adjustments to your routine. However, please take on board each of the nine suggestions presented here.
By doing so, you’ll join the more than 100,000 individuals who have visited Pritikin over the last four decades and discovered that their lives improved in many ways as a result of their attendance. You should expect to lose weight without experiencing hunger, and as a bonus, you may find that you have more strength and energy than you have in years. The time to act is now. Keep your heart in good health. And start a fresh and better life from square one.