Follow These Guidelines For Your Heart To Perform To Its Potential

Heart disease has taken in its grip almost everyone in the United States (and world over) in some way or the other. It is the number one cause of mortality among both men and women. Having said that, you’d be glad to know that heart disease is one of the preventable causes of death. With medications, a healthy lifestyle comprising regular exercise and dietary changes, you can manage most conditions associated with your ticker, which can keep your heart condition from worsening.

In fact, incorporating healthy habits in your daily life from childhood can drastically cut your risk for heart disease as you grow up. Coronary heart disease (CHD) occurs as a result of plaque accumulation in the inner walls of the coronary arteries. If left unattended, blood flow to the heart muscle may be disrupted due to clogging of the arteries resulting in a heart attack. Heart attack is very much prevalent in the USA claiming a life every 40 seconds. In spite of this, with your lifestyle and behavior choices, there’s a lot you can do to improve the major risk factors (high blood pressure, high levels of LDL “bad” cholesterol and high blood sugar) that cause CHD.

Over the last couple of months, it may have been difficult to make healthy choices. You are most likely to have relegated everything else, including heart care, to the backburner. But you can very easily get the health of your ticker back on track with the following tips, even in view of the ongoing pandemic.

Get your risk assessed- A good first step is to know the three key numbers- your BP, cholesterol levels (LDL and HDL), and blood sugar. These numbers are critical indicators of a person’s risk of heart disease.

Avoid packaged foods- Weight is an important component of our heart health. Get your current BMI. Accordingly work towards achieving a healthy weight. When you arrive in a healthy weight range, half the battle against heart disease is won since obesity is a strong heart attack risk factor. Talking about achieving a healthy weight, perhaps the best place to start is to cut back on the unhealthy foods like packaged foods coupled with daily exercise.

Daily exercise- The role that regular exercise plays in shaping your health, your heart health in particular, cannot be overstated. Regular physical activity helps you in countless ways by burning calories, keeping cholesterol levels in check, not to mention conditioning of the ticker just like the other muscles.

Other valuable measures include quitting smoking which you are never too late to do, and looking into your family’s heart disease history. Last, but not the least, keep an eye out for the warning signs, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, and pain radiating to the jaw or arms, since emergencies such as a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest can come on without any intimation. Call 911 immediately is you notice these signs, which indicates a heart attack.

For a CPR class, you can register at the AHA accredited CPR Tampa in Palm Harbor. Contact us at 727-240-9404 to sign up for a class today. Here’s the address to reach CPR Tampa, 36141 US Highway 19 North Palm Harbor, FL 34684. Become AHA CPR certified at the end of training.