Stopping heart disease with the best cardiologist
Heart disease is a condition that makes many people sick and weak, hence many visit to a cardiologist. It is the top cause of death in the United States.
Some people are more likely to get heart disease because of certain risks. Risk factors can either be changed or can’t be changed. Risk factors that you can change, like your weight, are called “modifiable risk factors.” Non-modifiable risk factors are things like your genes that you can’t change.
What you do can affect how healthy your heart
Heart disease is much less likely if you change the way you live. Changes to your life that are good include:
- quitting smoking If you smoke
- you should eat well and exercise
- If you have diabetes, you should control your blood pressure.
Advice by Cardiologist: Quitting smoking
Stopping smoking is the most important thing you can do to lower your chance of heart disease. One of the main things that puts people at risk for coronary heart disease, heart attack, and stroke is smoking. When you smoke, a fatty substance called plaque builds up in the arteries.
Over time, this causes the vessels to harden, which is called atherosclerosis. Smoking hurts your lungs, which makes your body work less well and makes you more likely to get heart disease. It lowers the amount of good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein) in your body and raises your blood pressure, which can put more pressure on your arteries.
Quitting smoking has been shown to cut down on heart disease. Many states have started programmes to make it harder or impossible for people to smoke in general.
The effects of giving up smoking happen very quickly. Your oxygen intake will go up, your circulation will get better, and your blood pressure will go down. These changes will give you more energy and make it easier for you to work out. Your body will start to get better over time.
After you stop smoking, your risk of heart disease goes down, and it may go down a lot over time. You should stay away from people who smoke, since secondhand smoke can also hurt your health
1. Food and nutrition
Heart disease can be prevented in a big way by watching what you eat and drink. Having a healthy diet can make you less likely to get heart disease. This is true even if heart disease runs in your family or your genes make you more likely to get it.
Heart disease is less likely to happen if you eat a lot of raw fruits and veggies, whole grains, and omega-3 fatty acids, which are often found in fish. People who eat a Mediterranean diet are less likely to get heart disease. This diet is all about:
eating herbs, nuts, and olive oil, which is a healthy fat; eating red meat only once or twice a month; eating more fruits, veggies, and whole grains; and limiting the amount of red meat you eat.
You’ll also need to stay away from or eat less of certain foods that make heart disease worse. This includes foods with a lot of sugar and salt, alcoholic drinks, and foods with vegetable oil that has been partly hydrogenated. Keeping an eye on calories is also important.
Know how many calories you need each day and focus on eating a range of foods that are high in nutrients and low in calories.
2. Exercise and how to lose weight
Exercise and keeping a healthy weight are also important if you want to lower your blood pressure and keep heart disease from happening. Experts at the Mayo Clinic say that you should work out for at least 30 minutes every day, or 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. Working out doesn’t have to be hard. The trick is to keep moving.
One of the most important reasons to work out is to keep a good weight. You have to find a mix between how many calories you eat and how much you work out. Find out your body mass index and use it to help you set goals for losing weight. Keeping a healthy weight will lower your blood pressure and make you less likely to have other problems.
3. Managing diabetes
Heart disease is a very major risk when you have diabetes. It hurts many organs in the body if it isn’t handled, and it can lead to peripheral artery disease, stroke, and other problems if it isn’t taken care of. If you have diabetes, you should take care of it to keep heart disease from happening.
People with diabetes can take steps to avoid heart disease by:
- getting regular checkups from your doctor
- eating well
- working out,
- You might need to take medicine to control your diabetes. By living in a healthy way, you can lessen the affects of diabetes and lower your risk of getting heart disease.
4. Getting your blood pressure down
High blood pressure, also called hypertension, can put more strain on your heart and blood vessels and make you more likely to get heart disease. Your blood pressure can be brought down by:
- food exercise weight management
- avoiding stress
- if you smoke, you should stop.
- dodging smoking
- consuming less salt, drinking less booze
If you know you have high blood pressure, work closely with your doctor and check your blood pressure often. Take all of the blood pressure medicines your doctor gives you and take them as advised. It is hard to tell if someone has high blood pressure. If you’re not sure if you have it or not, talk to your doctor.
Advice by Cardiologist: Managing stress
Everyone reacts differently to stress. People who are under a lot of stress for a long time are more likely to get heart disease. It’s not clear what the link is.
Stress can make it hard to sleep, hurt, give you headaches, and wear out your body. Stress that lasts for a long time can make the heart work harder. This will make any other things that put you at risk for heart disease worse.
There are many things you can do to reduce stress and help your health as a whole. One way to deal with worry is to work out or do something physical.
Slowing down and doing breathing or relaxation routines, like those used in yoga, can also help. Letting go of fears and spending more time with family and friends can also help you live a healthier, more relaxed life. Get enough sleep is also important.
Read more about identifying a heart disease click here
Dr Naveen Bhamri, Cardiologist in News Click here