If you are looking for an easy way to know what should we do to maintain a healthy heart, then you are at the right place. No matter how hard we try to eat healthily throughout our lives, there will always be an obstacle to it. But everyone should try to instill healthy eating for the heart, and it is especially important if you are in the process of health restoration and recovering from heart attacks.
The food that you eat will determine your heart. A diet with high saturated fats will increase your cholesterol, and this is the factor that could cause heart disease. Obesity is also a contributory factor to heart disease. Even if you take high sodium in your diet, your blood pressure will increase, and this will lead to inflammation of blood vessels and some extent heart disease exist.
Improve your health and escape from the possibility of heart disease by following the what should we do to maintain a healthy heart tip below:
– Have a healthy sleep
Sleep doesn’t just slow down aging in adults. It also helps increase height for young children, it also helps prevent chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.
Because of sleep, our body produces GROWTH HORMONE. Hormones needed for growth in children help increase height and make organs enlarged to enter adulthood.
For adults, the Growth hormone has changed its function from enhancing growth to repairing the body, that is, to slow down in good shape improve muscle and reduce the accumulation of fat as well.
On the other hand, sleep deprivation affects the secretion of the hormone ghrelin (hunger hormone) produced in the stomach and small intestine, and decreases the hormone leptin (saturation hormone), leading to increased appetite and appetite.
The importance of sleep is not just spending a lot of time sleeping, but sleep quality to get the most benefits for the body.
Adults (18-59 years) should sleep about 7-9 hours a day and should not sleep any later than 10 p.m. Growth hormone is secreted to repair the worn-out muscles and body from use during the day.
Seniors (60 years and older), should get about 7-8 hours of sleep per day. And should go to bed before 10 p.m. for the growth hormone to be released to repair the muscles and should not sleep during the day because it may cause insomnia at night or difficult to fall asleep, but if you are very sleepy or feel tired Able to sleep in short periods of about 10-20 minutes.
Going to bed before 10 p.m. is therefore beneficial to help induce deep sleep for the growth hormone to work fully while sleeping.
– Eat more fish
You must eat plenty of fish. Salmon, sardines, and herring are good sources of Omega 3, which have the required fatty acids. But other fish are good too, but those with Omega-3 have an advantage as it could reduce your cholesterol to a normal level.
– Eat the right fat
Not all fatty acids are bad ones. Saturated fat will, of course, increase the possibility of heart disease. This kind of fat can be easily found in meat, butter, and even coconut oil. Try to avoid them until your cholesterol levels are back to normal and you are at an acceptable weight that suits your age. You can substitute those red meats with seafood and nuts as the main sources of protein.
Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats and this will help to protect your heart. Use olive oil in your cooking, and dressing, or you can use it as a dipping sauce.
– No more stress
Stress is a state of emotions or feelings that arise when a person is faced with a variety of problems. and makes you feel pressured, uncomfortable, disturbed, fearful, anxious, and oppressed when a person perceives or assesses the problem as a psychological threat or may cause harm to the body It will result in the balance of body and mind being lost.
When stressed, Individuals react to stress and cause changes in various aspects. whether the body is mental and emotional including behavior but over time and those stresses eased the body will return to equilibrium again.
Ways to deal with stress
– do physical relaxation such as deep breathing, exercise, massage, rest, dining a warm bath.
– reducing mental tension, such as creating a sense of humor and positive thinking.
– watching movies, listening to music, laughing, deep breathing, meditation, and using silence techniques. to stop thinking of myself in a stressful matter.
For the stress relief training, when you start to feel that there is little stress, you should practice 2-3 times a day and practice every day. Only once practiced until proficient, then reduced to only 1 time per day is enough, or may practice only when feeling stressed. But I would recommend you to practice every day. Especially before going to bed will help calm the mind and sleep better.
– Eat more fiber
You could also control your cholesterol by taking fiber. Fiber could be found in whole grain products and it could help to control the absorption of sugar too and this will assist you in maintaining the healthiness of your digestive system.
– No more smoking
Despite warnings about the dangers of cigarettes placed on cigarette packs such as cigarettes can cause heart disease, cancer, emphysema, paralysis, sexual dysfunction, etc. but still many still smoke.
Disease caused by smoking is a big problem, public health loses a lot of money each year on dealing with to heal the disease caused by smoking.
Cigarettes are the leading cause of more than 10 types of cancer, including lung cancer, cancer of the respiratory and oral cavity, cancer of the stomach, pancreas, etc. because it contains almost 50 types of carcinogens. Cigarettes stimulate chronic bronchitis. which causes emphysema It is like destroying a sponge with small air pockets, turning it into a large honeycomb. The surface of the oxygen exchange at the alveolar is reduced and many more bad things about smoking could happen.
So, no more smoking.
– Make a good diet plan
You must be choosy in taking carbohydrates. Sugary foods such as cookies or cakes or candy and pastries are not good for your heart. Take whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, brown rice, and a lot of vegetables. Make fruits and vegetables your main food in your diet.
Use canola oil or olive oil for your frying and these are good methods as compared to dipping your food in the batter. When cooking a chicken, bake it in the oven using foil after the skin is being removed.
– Avoid frying, choose baking
Always try to bake your fish and avoid frying. It is better to have your vegetables under steam as this will make the nutrients remain. Before eating the vegetables, squeeze some lemon juice on it or any seasonings which are your favorite.
In the process of changing your diet, a lot of patience is needed and over the period the healthy eating diet will become your habit. Always eat healthy food as it could contribute to a healthy body and lifestyle, and more so when it concerns your heart and prevents a heart attack.
– Do some exercise
A good exercise is an aerobic exercise, it is an exercise in which the muscles use oxygen to generate energy during exercise. It is an exercise that uses large muscles such as arms and legs at the same time, do it continuously without stopping for at least 20 minutes.
To achieve healthy results, exercise must be at least 1 time per day, 20-30 minutes each time, 3-5 times a week.
This is what should we do to maintain a healthy heart, it may be hard the first time but I highly recommend adjusting a little bit each time to meet your comfort zone then you will enjoy a healthy heart and live a long life.