Tips for a Healthy Heart

The leading cause of death in the world is heart disease, which can be strongly avoided by altering your lifestyle and reducing your risk factors. In honor of Heart Health Awareness Month and our campaign, Connect to a Cause, our team at Connect California Homes would like to share some tips to help you keep your heart healthy!

1. Get moving

Your heart is a muscle, and just like any other muscle, it becomes stronger with activity. Here is a great resource to determine your target heart rate while exercising to strengthen your heart. It is important to find an activity that you enjoy and can stick with for the long run!

2. Quit smoking

Quitting smoking is difficult. However, it is important to become aware of how crucial it is to stop, one of the main reasons is that smoking is heavily associated with heart disease. Here are some strategies to quit smoking and stay heart healthy.

3. Lose weight

Losing weight can help lower your blood pressure. When you are overweight, your heart has to work harder to pump blood through your body. The more forcefully your heart beats, the higher your blood pressure will be, which can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, and visual issues. Your blood pressure can drop dramatically if you lose weight.

Losing weight is more than just exercise and diet. It is a personal journey that is unique to everyone. We have some tips to help you start losing weight if this is something that you struggle with.

4. Eat heart healthy foods

Simple, healthy fats are great for boosting your heart health. Some examples include avocado, salmon, tuna, and olive oil. Here’s a list of heart healthy foods you can add to your diet to give your heart the fuel it needs. 

Saturated fat is prevalent in red meat and can raise your cholesterol. Try to swap out red meat with chicken, fish, or beans. If you do occasionally consume red meat, try to choose lean cuts like sirloin.

5. Treat yourself to some chocolate and wine!

Good news! Research has found that chocolate and wine contribute to heart health, however, like most things, this is shown only in moderation. Antioxidants found in alcohol and cocoa have been demonstrated to raise good cholesterol, lower bad cholesterol, and enhance blood clotting ability. 

Cheers!

6. Avoid overeating

Overeating leads to blood shifting from the heart to the digestive system and creates faster and more irregular heart rates which can lead to heart attack or heart failure. This is why we see a lot of heart related deaths around the holidays with copious amounts of food. 

7. Reduce your stress

A rise in blood pressure and a quicker heart rate are only two of 1,400 physiological reactions to stress. If you don't control your stress, it might build up and keep you stuck in a cycle of tension. 

Life has twists and turns, there is no way to truly avoid stressful situations. However, there are so many ways to control and relieve your stress including yoga, meditation, and simply getting enough sleep. Here is an article from Harvard of the top ways you can reduce your daily stress.