February is recognized as American Heart Month to help motivate Americans to adopt healthy lifestyles to prevent heart disease. There are different and simple ways you can keep your heart healthy like healthy eating, exercise, and lowering stress.
A big part of improving your heart health has to do with what you are eating. Some foods that are the foundation of a healthy heart include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and protein-rich foods. Vegetables that are especially healthy for the heart are leafy greens like spinach, collard greens, and kale, along with others like broccoli and carrots. The protein-rich foods that will be especially good for your heart are less fatty and leaner, like fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, nuts, and legumes. Some foods that are worth staying away from are those high in sodium or salt, foods that have saturated fats like pastries, certain cuts of meat like beef and pork, anything with butter, or full-fat dairy products, and foods with added sugars like sweets and soft drinks. One big thing to also reduce the consumption of or stop is alcohol which can add calories to the diet, add fats to the blood, and can raise the risk of disease.
Exercise is another key part of improving your heart health. One exercise for improving heart health is aerobics training. This will improve blood circulation, which will help lower blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and improve your overall heart function. Some simple examples of aerobics include walking, running, swimming, biking, and jumping rope. Another exercise that is key to heart health is resistance training which helps get rid of fat and creates lean muscle. Some simple examples of resistance exercises include lifting weights, using resistance bands, or just bodyweight exercises like push-ups, squats, or pull-ups. One more key exercise that actually allows you to do more with both resistance training and aerobics is flexibility and balance workouts. This includes any kind of stretching and yoga.
Something that may be the hardest to do for heart health is solely lowering stress. Stress acts like a circulating condition and can lead to a rise in blood pressure and an accelerated heart rate. For some, stress is easy to manage, and people can change actions in their life that cause the stress. Others may not be able to change these actions, and the goal is to change the response to these actions. Some ways to respond to these stressors and decrease the likelihood of continued stress are to partake in acupuncture, yoga, or meditation. Lowering stress levels will help decrease blood pressure, allow us to focus and perform better, and decrease our fear and anxiety.
Making simple changes to take care of your heart will also create a better lifestyle for your overall physical and mental health. To learn more about heart-healthy living, click here.
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