Our hearts work beat by beat, second by second for 24 hours a day, never resting. Over the average lifetime, our hearts beat about 2.5 billion times. Knowing that it’s one of the most vital organs keeping us alive, it’s important to treat it like the precious commodity it is.
The number one cause of death among women and men, heart disease claims approximately one million lives per year. Heart disease conditions emerge when plaque, which is made of fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances in the blood, builds up inside the coronary arteries which supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscles. When plaque builds up, it restricts blood flow to the heart’s chambers, which can lead to heart attack, sudden cardiac death and stroke.
While the statistics are eye-opening, the good news is that simple lifestyle changes can help you avoid, or even slow down, heart-related problems. Making positive changes in one of the following seven areas can have one of the biggest impacts on your heart health. They include: losing weight/maintaining a healthy weight, eating healthy, staying active, managing blood pressure, reducing blood sugar, quitting smoking and controlling cholesterol.
When done alone or combined, making positive changes in any of above seven areas can make a drastic difference in your health.
What are different levels of CVD prevention?
There are three stages of heart disease prevention that are applicable to different groups of people.
- PRIMARY PREVENTION.
Patient that has already been developed complications related to heart disease such as high cholesterol level and high blood pressure may still protect themselves from further serious complications. Although the steps taken may seem very trivial, they are actually vital as precautions measure so the body do not get further affected from the symptoms.
- SECONDARY PREVENTION
Patients that have went through heart diseases compilations and treatment including bypass surgery, stroke or angioplasty should not give up and neglect their heart care. They are still required to maximize their prevention measures to minimize risk of second stroke or heart attack.
- PRIMORDIAL PREVENTION
The word “primordial” means existing from the beginning. Primordial prevention involves working to prevent inflammation, atherosclerosis, and endothelial dysfunction from taking hold, and thus prevent risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excess weight, and ultimately cardiovascular events. This prevention is an ideal guideline to be more concern on health disease and shall be nurtured since childhood.
What are the general safety precautions can be taken?
Overall, the general prevention steps are important in all individuals regardless of their risk in having heart disease:
1) Do not smoke. Stop if you do.
2) Maintain healthy weight.
3) Keep exercising to boost stamina. Elders can practice any light physical exercise such as breeze walk and yoga.
4) Practice healthy diet intake.
What kind of food are good for our heart?
Because our heart is the important organ that pump the oxygen to our brain, we can consume food that can help with our blood circulation and stabilize our heart beat. Food sourced from high antioxidant properties and vitamin C that can help prevent bad radicals affect our heart health. Besides, our heart need only good fat source that are essential from low density lipoprotein to prevent risk of cholesterol and blood pressure. These can be obtained from food that contain nutrients such as Omega 3,6 and 9.
Among recommended food ingredients for our heart are:
1) Beetroot
2) Pomegranate
3) Vitamin B, C, D
4) Fish oil
5) Grape seed oil/extract
6) Flaxseed oil
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