Reduce Your Chances of Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, as I mentioned in a previous post, heart disease kills 1 in 4 people in the U.S, which makes it a likely chance that you could end up with heart disease. However, people in the United States can reduce their chances of heart disease by living a healthy lifestyle, getting regular check ups, and not smoking.

Source: Buzzle

Eating Healthy:

Eating a healthy diet is one way to reduce your chances of heart disease. According to Mayo Clinic, “Eating a healthy diet can reduce your risk of heart disease.” Eating a healthy diet means having a diet that is rich in:

• fruits
• vegetables
• whole grain
• beans
• low-fat proteins

Fish, such as salmon, has beneficial properties like omega-3 that can help reduce your risk of heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends “eating fish (particularly fatty fish) at least two times (two servings) a week.” To reduce heart disease, you should also avoid eating:

• Red meats
• dairy products
• Any fried foods
• packaged snack
• foods that have in the label “partially hydrogenated”, which means it contains trans fat

Exercising:
In addition to eating healthy, exercising on a daily basis also helps reduce your chances of heart disease. Since high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol are some of the contributing factors to heart disease, it is important to have those contributing factors at healthy levels and exercising is a good way to keep the levels in range. Mayo Clinic recommends for people to exercise or have some sort of “physical activity for 30-60 minutes for most days of the week (at least five times a week)”. Mayo Clinic also mentions that “if you can’t do exercises for long periods of time, then do what you can because any amount of exercise will be beneficial to you.” So if you’re not a fan of exercising then you should try and find creatives ways to get some sort of physical activity, whether it’s cleaning your room or just talking a walk.

Regular Check-Ups:
Another way to reduce your chances of heart disease, it is also a good idea to have regular check-ups. These check-ups would consist of blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and diabetes.

Blood Pressure:
 Mayo Clinic suggests that adults should get their blood pressure checked every two years. The normal blood pressure level is anything below 120/80.

Cholesterol:
As for Cholesterol, adults should get it checked once every five years starting at the age of 20. Healthy cholesterol levels is anything below 180 mg/dL. It’s important to make sure that you do not have high cholesterol because according to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, “the higher your blood cholesterol level, the greater your risk for developing heart disease or having a heart attack.”

Diabetes:
There is no age or amount of time you should get tested for diabetes, but it does not hurt to get a check up because diabetes is a contributing factor of heart disease. If you do happen to have a family history of diabetes or you are overweight, it is recommended that you get tested for diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends “starting screening at age 45, and then retesting every three years.”

 
Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Now that you are more informed about heart disease prevention, you are closer to reducing you or your loved ones chances of heart disease!