Last Updated on April 24, 2024
February is America Heart Month, so we wanted to provide a series of articles based around you and a healthy heart.
Everyone should show their heart a little love and it’s easier than you might think. Simple changes to your diet and regular routine can make big changes that your heart will love. It is extremely important that your heart is taken care of, especially since heart disease is still the leading cause of death in both men and women.
So, here are a few changes that are relatively easy and some enjoyable ways to look after your ticker.
Exercise
Daily Exercise of 30 minutes or more gets your heart pumping and helps to keep it in shape. It may seem difficult to fit in another 30 minutes of anything into an already busy schedule, but it is important and can be a lot of fun. Whether it is speed walking with your friends, gym membership or a dance class it counts as exercise! If you are adding a new exercise regimen to your schedule, just remember to keep it easy, fun and interesting to help you stay the course.
Diet
Along with exercise, should come a cleaner diet. Keep eating the foods you love but in moderation and add cleaner, heart healthy foods as much as you can. A few heart healthy foods would be oatmeal, berries, vegetables, dark beans, and do not forget to indulge in a little red wine or dark chocolate every now and then.
Meal Planning
Meal planning is a big part of making sure you get enough foods and nutrients in your body that are healthy for your heart. Take a few minutes before going grocery shopping to make a list of some foods that you would like to add to your diet and when you have time, get them prepared for easy snacking and meal preparation so when the end of the day hits and you have a thousand things on your to-do list, healthy food doesn’t get put on the back burner.
Drink Water
Drinking plenty of water is also very important for your heart health, it goes hand in hand with diet and exercise. The more you exercise the more you will feel thirsty and the more water you should be drinking. However, it is not always that simple. On average, people are only drinking about 2.5 cups of water in a day which is not nearly enough. The eight cups of water in a day is an average for what we should be in taking. Some people may need more and many people can get away with drinking far less. Water is a contributing factor to every metabolic process, and dehydration can cause blood flow to slow along with many other health risks. Try to set realistic water drinking goals, get a fun cup to drink from and figure out how many of those cups you should/can drink in a day.
Reduce Stress
Reducing stress from your day and life is another way to show your heart some love. Thinking about getting rid of stress can alone be stressful, but with a healthy diet and exercise plan, half the battle of stress is already won! All exercise can help reduce stress, since it produces endorphins but some can be more geared to reduce stress mentally as well as physically such as yoga. Reducing stress can also be a great excuse to take a vacation and regroup thoughts, experience new things or even just time off to finish up a project that has been on your mind.
Everyone deserves to sleep in, every now and then and a little extra sleep can be a good thing for your heart. Try going to bed a little earlier or sleeping in on the weekends, to catch a few extra Z’s. It is good for you and good for your heart, so do your best to put your guilt behind you and turn off your alarm when it is possible.
Keeping your heart as healthy as possible is good news for everyone. Show yourself and your family some love by loving your heart.
