When you hear about cardiovascular disease, two things come to mind: heart attack and stroke. The conditions affecting the heart and the blood vessels, such as angina or coronary artery disease, can have a devastating effect on the human body. If they are left untreated, they cause serious health problems. While most individuals can survive a heart attack and get back to a normal life, they can’t make a comeback following a stroke. The moment that a blood vessel within the brain bursts, blood supply is cut off and the cells immediately start to die. Surviving a stroke isn’t impossible, yet it’s challenging. Cardiovascular disease kills millions of people each year. Heart disease can affect people of any age. So, you’re never too young to worry about matters like this.
More than half of the deaths from cardiovascular disease could be prevented. Put simply, it’s possible to nip heart disease in the bud. When it comes down to health, making efforts to eliminate problems at their source is better. If you get sick, you have to take all sorts of medications to manage the symptoms like ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, and cholesterol-lowering drugs. Those who are looking forward to lowering their chances of developing heart disease the natural way will be happy to know that there are alternatives. These tips from the experts will help people take a proactive approach to prevent and even revert cardiovascular disease. There is no need to rely on medications.
Chow down on whole foods
We hear time and time again that eating a Mediterranean diet is better as compared to a whole food diet. This is completely untrue. Nothing can compare to eating whole foods. Consuming whole foods like fresh berries or baked potatoes is great for enhancing the health and preventing cardiovascular disease, of course. By foods, it shouldn’t be understood supplements or processed nourishment. A diet that comprises lots and lots of vegetables reduces the incidence of coronary heart disease. The plant-based diet includes a high intake of fiber, antioxidants, and macronutrients. It shouldn’t, therefore, come as a surprise that individuals adhering to this regimen experience low blood pressure, better blood sugar and insulin levels.
What people refuse to understand is that saturated fats lead to inflammation, which is an indicator for heart disease, such as arthritis inflammation. Eating fewer fats is beneficial to the health. Attention needs to be paid to the fact that there are many plant-based diets to choose from. If you’re desperately trying to control your risk of heart attack or stroke, then you should better find the best one for you. The diets that have the most significant impact are DASH diet and MIND diet. The DASH diet concentrates on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, lean meats. The MIND diet, on the other hand, is all about eating green, leafy vegetables, berries, nuts, olive oil, fish, beans, and wine. The foods are important, but so are their sources. Foods from animal sources aren’t that good.
Increasing physical fitness
Regular exercise reduces the chances of getting heart disease. However, that isn’t a secret. It’s common knowledge that working out prevents and delays the development of high blood pressure, not to mention cholesterol levels. There are many exercises to help with strengthening the heart and the blood vessels, such as step aerobics, elliptical trainers, running, jumping rope, and so on and so forth.
The good news is that it’s not necessary to work out all day long. 30 minutes of moderate exercising per day is enough. In addition to lowering the risk of heart disease, physical fitness maintains the weight down, reduces the risk of osteoporosis, and provides more energy. Only a person who is fit is able to live life to its fullest extent. Increasing your physical fitness activity isn’t that hard. As a matter of fact, it’s quite easy. If you don’t feel like doing aerobic exercises, take the steps more often, park far from your working place, and clean your home whenever possible. This too counts as exercise. Physical fitness is important for individuals in all ages, including children, adolescents, and adults. Adults, in particular, should be preoccupied with their good health. After the age of 30, it’s hard if not impossible to maintain a healthy lifestyle without working out.
Put a stop to smoking
There is a close link between smoking and cardiovascular disease. More precisely, inhaling the smoke of tobacco is damaging to the heart and blood vessels. The heart requires a considerable amount of oxygen, as well as nutrients, from the coronary arteries and their branches. Unfortunately, fatty deposits build up in one or more arteries, which in turn leads to the narrowing of the arteries. The blood doesn’t get to the heart anymore and the person is at risk of suffering a heart attack. The point is that smoking isn’t good for the heart. It’s a major risk factor and, when it’s combined with others like high blood pressure or obesity, it only further raises the chances of becoming ill.
It’s possible to stop the damage that is caused by nicotine. Every cigarette increases the chances of developing heart disease. The experts say that 1 in 5 deaths resulting from heart disease is due to smoking. This is the reason why it’s not a good idea to stop smoking all at once. The nicotine intake needs to be stopped slowly for the best results.