Ways To Keep Your Heart Healthy

By Madhu Babu

The most critical aspect of leading a healthy life is that of having a healthy heart. They go hand-in-glove wherein you don't get to have a healthy heart without a healthy lifestyle and vice-versa. Our heart is said to beat approximately 2.5 billion times during a lifespan of 66 years. Being so critical for our life, it is important to treat it with respect and care. Many people tend to take things for granted and neglect the health of heart and its function by choosing various unhealthy lifestyle options.

Lot of factors related to your lifestyle affect the health of your heart. However there are certain genetic disorders that affect our heart which are out of our control. Unhealthy lifestyle like consuming too much trans-fat through junk-food and other unhealthy fast food options result in clogging of arteries making your heart work harder. On the long run, your heart would give in to such stress and develop complications.

One must avoid unhealthy pleasures like smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol to reduce stress to heart. It is important to eat right and healthy to maintain a healthy body as excessive body weight with unhealthy cholesterol build-up in your body results in damages to your heart. Other important factor affecting function and health of your heart is stress. By running after success and fortune, people tend to accumulate lots of stress resulting in unhealthy heart condition.

Here are ways to keep your heart healthy.

Eat Healthy

Eat Healthy

You must start by eating healthy. A well balanced nutritional diet helps to maintain a healthy body there by reducing stress on your heart thereby increasing its health. Avoid foods with high levels of trans-fats.

Stay Fit

Stay Fit

You must stay physically fit and keep your body weight in check. Obesity is a major cause of various heart related diseases. Know your ideal weight required for your height and make sure you are in permissible limits around it.

Practice Yoga

Practice Yoga

Regular exercise or practising yoga helps in maintaining a healthy body and heart. Choose any form of physical activity to be involved in on a regular basis. Sports, aerobics or dancing helps in maintain good health.

Stay Active

Stay Active

Be physically active to large extent possible. If you are mostly into desk job through the day, make sure you reserve time during mornings or evenings for a walk or cycle to keep yourself physically active.

Quit Bad Habits

Quit Bad Habits

Avoid habits such as smoking, alcohol consumption and other intoxicants. These foreign elements entering your body wrecks havoc resulting in damages to your body and
heart. Try quitting these addictions slowly but surely.

Avoid Stress

Avoid Stress

No matter how ambitious you are, try to cut on stress levels in work and personal life. Pace your life and career evenly and enjoy life as it presents. Excessive stress causes lots of heart diseases.

Heredity

Heredity

Many heart related issues are hereditary. Hence it is important to know your family history and take precautionary measures before hand to avoid complications. Many such conditions are treatable when detected during early stages.

Eat Fish

Eat Fish

Eat oily fish and other sources of omega-3 fats. It is very beneficial to health of your heart. Fish such as mackerel, sardines, fresh tuna and salmon are an excellent source of omega-3 fats, which can help protect against heart disease.

Sleep Well

Sleep Well

Get adequate and quality sleep daily. Cutting your sleep time results in lots of health issues like anxiety, stress, sleeping disorder that has lots of ill effects of your hearts health.

Be Happy

Be Happy

Finally the most important way to keep your heart healthy is lead a happy life. You need to laugh and smile more. Studies have shown that laughing for just 15 minutes daily can boost blood flow by 22%.

Story first published: Tuesday, November 26, 2013, 19:16 [IST]
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