Health

15 Tips To Prevent Heart Disease And Stroke

Tips To Prevent Heart Disease And Stroke

May 10th, 2018   |   Updated on June 29th, 2022

Heart attacks are becoming more common especially after the development in scientific research. What people perceived as common chest pains, are now more distinctly categorized as types of heart attacks.

Myocardial Infarction commonly known as heart attack is an episode that occurs due the stoppage of blood flow into a part of the heart. It can cause considerable damage to the heart muscle.

15 tips, tricks, and techniques for protecting your heart. Make them part of your life, and you may just live long enough to see the United States pay its national debt, the Cubs win the World Series, and Madonna retire.


1. Don’t Smoke Or Expose Yourself To Second-hand Smoke

The evidence is overwhelming that cigarette smoking and second-hand exposure to smoke increases the risks of heart disease, lung disease, peripheral vascular disease and stroke.


2. Make Exercise A Daily Habit

The lack of exercise is contributing to the obesity epidemic in Americans. Studies indicate that walking two miles a day is optimal for overall health, and those two miles of walking do not have to be done all at once. Exercise does more than burn calories; it also activates genes that are beneficial to health in other ways. Plus, exercise is one of the best treatments for depression and anxiety. However, exercise alone cannot control or reduce your weight – you must also modify your diet.

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3. Reduce Stress

Stress contributes to cardiovascular disease and, if severe, can cause a heart attack or sudden death. There are plenty of options that help reduce stress, such as regular exercise, adequate sleep, striving for a good marriage, laughing, volunteering or attending religious services. Watching TV generally does not relieve, but can aggravate stress. Also, try to avoid situations and people who make you anxious or angry.


4. Watch For Hypertension

Know your blood pressure and keep it under control. High blood pressure (hypertension) is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Blood pressure measurement is the cheapest, simplest and perhaps most important of all medical tests. Even small changes in your average blood pressure, up or down, can affect your cardiovascular risk. Diet and exercise can help you keep prehypertension from developing into full-blown hypertension, or at least delay it by many years.


5. Control Blood Sugar

People with diabetes are at greater risk for heart attack and stroke than people without it. Even having slightly higher than normal blood sugar levels—a condition known as prediabetes—increases coronary risk. If you have prediabetes or diabetes, be particularly careful about controlling your blood sugar through diet, weight loss, exercise and medication if necessary.



6. Eat For Your Heart

Adopt a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. The high intake of fiber from plants, especially soluble fiber, is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Also, eat oily fish two or three times a week for their omega-3 fats, and choose small portions of lean meats. Avoid trans fats (from partially hydrogenated oils). However, do eat moderate amounts of healthy, unsaturated fats, such as nuts and vegetable oils, especially in place of saturated fats (notably animal fats). Limit sugary foods and refined carbohydrates, such as white pasta.





7. Run Indoors on Hazy Days

Researchers in Finland found that exercising outside on hot, hazy days when air pollution is at its worst can cut the supply of oxygen in the blood, making it more likely to clot.


8. Bike Away The Blues

Men who are suffering from depression are more than twice as likely to develop heart disease as guys who aren’t depressed. So c’mon, get happy. In a trial of 150 men and women, Duke researchers found that after just 3 months of treatment, antidepressants and exercise were equally effective at relieving almost all symptoms of depression.


9. Drink Cranberry Juice

University of Scranton scientists found that volunteers who drank three 8-ounce glasses a day for a month increased their HDL-cholesterol levels by 10 percent, enough to cut heart-disease risk by almost 40 percent. Buy 100 percent juice that’s at least 27 percent cranberry.


10. Get Your Daily B Vitamins

A study at the Cleveland Clinic found that men with diets low in B vitamins were more than twice as likely to develop heart disease as men with higher levels in their systems.


11. Eat Grapefruit

One a day can reduce arterial narrowing by 46 percent, lower your bad-cholesterol level by more than 10 percent, and help drop your blood pressure by more than 5 points.


12. Finish Your Degree

California researchers found that women with 4-year or advanced degrees have a lower risk of heart disease than those who are less educated. The benefit comes from moving up the earnings ladder.

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13. Power Up Your Salsa With Beans

When paired with low-fat chips or fresh veggies, salsa offers a delicious and antioxidant-rich snack. Consider mixing in a can of black beans for an added boost of heart-healthy fiber. According to the Mayo Clinic, a diet rich in soluble fiber can help lower your level of low-density lipoprotein, or “bad cholesterol.” Other rich sources of soluble fiber include oats, barley, apples, pears, and avocados.


14. Move It, Move It, Move It

No matter how much you weigh, sitting for long periods of time could shorten your lifespan, warn researchers in the Archives of Internal Medicine and the American Heart Association. Couch potato and desk jockey lifestyles seem to have an unhealthy effect on blood fats and blood sugar. If you work at a desk, remember to take regular breaks to move around. Go for a stroll on your lunch break, and enjoy regular exercise in your leisure time.


15. Climb

Yale researchers found that men with insulin resistance—a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease—who exercised on a stairclimber for 45 minutes 4 days a week improved their sensitivity to insulin by 43 percent in 6 weeks.

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