Though abnormalities of the heart function can predate birth but the focus of this article is to highlight ways to prevent adult-onset heart dysfunctions. Millions of adults are daily nursing one heart dysfunction or other and the economic cost of treatment is quite enormous.
Studies have shown that the cost of prevention of these “mostly preventable” heart conditions is meager compared to the cost of treatment. If not for any reason, this should be enough for you to pay attention to the preventive strategies discussed in this post.
Step 1: Eat Healthy - A healthy diet is probably the cheapest way to keep your heart in top condition. Failure to eat the right kind of food in the right quantity will make your body, which includes your heart, to break down. Eating healthy diet is about the best investment on your heart.
However, this is not a license to starve yourself to diet or not to indulge in some of your favorites once in a while, it just mean you can’t have them all the time.
Step 2: Get enough exercise – If you are not exercising on a regular basis, you are not exercising enough! You should be exercising for at least a half an hour for three to four times a week. This helps strengthens your heart and help you lose weight.
Moderate to vigorous exercise to consider should include walking at a brisk pace (at least 3 miles an hour), jogging, running, bicycling, swimming, and tennis.
However, you should also exercise some caution: DON’T OVERDO IT!
Step 3: Maintain a Healthy Weight – You can easily know what the appropriate weight for you should be by calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI). This can be calculated using online applications or manually by measuring your weight in kilograms and dividing it by the square of your height in centimeter.
For example; if my weight is 60kg and my height is 162cm (1.62m). Then, my BMI is (60÷1.622) which is 22.86.
The normal values should be within 18.5 and 25.5.
Diet and exercise will naturally bring you to a healthy weight level if you are not there already.
Step 4: Quite Smoking – Smoking has multifaceted effect on the human body. This includes the initiation of the processes that damage the blood vessels and other processes that prevents the proper repair of damaged vessels.
Therefore, no effort should be spared in making sure that that the attempt at quitting smoking is successful.
Step 5: Drink alcohol moderately – A standard drink contains 11 to 14 grams of alcohol. Researchers at Harvard University considered 5 to 30 grams of alcohol per day – roughly one-half to two standard drinks- to be low risk.
Compliance to this recommendation will save you a great deal of embarrassment and make you live healthier and happier.
Step 6: Keep your numbers within normal range – One of the major reasons heart conditions is commoner in adults is the accompanying medical conditions – Hypertension, Diabetes and Dyslipidemia. Though, these are life-long conditions they are conditions that can be effectively managed with proper adherence to treatment.
Try as much as possible to keep your blood pressure around 120/80, fasting blood sugar around 100 milligrams/deciliter, total cholesterol less than 200 milligrams/deciliter.
Step 7: Consult your doctor – This is one of the most important advice I will give you from here. When you are more than 40 years of age, you should see your doctor at least once in every 6 months to assess the state of your heart.
Heart conditions are not what you will want to joke with or that you can treat with over the counter medications, see your doctor as often as you can even when you are seemingly healthy.
Your doctor may also recommend some dietary supplements for you as part of the steps to a healthy heart.
Step 8: Repeat steps 1 through 7 - Achieving and maintaining a healthy heart needs constituency. The steps highlighted above should be incorporated into your daily routine and implemented in your everyday living to reap any meaningful fruit from it.
By following these 8 steps to a healthy heart, you should feel better physically and mentally, and enjoy a much more quality life.
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