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Cherish and guide your heart jealously

It makes me really sad whenever I hear or read about someone, especially family and friends who die suddenly from heart related diseases especially from Hypertension or high blood pressure; either because they were not aware they had this or simply ignored the signs and symptoms.

While we do not have complete control of what happens to our bodies, we do have some control over what we do to make our bodies function optimally, including our heart! This is the reason for this page and I hope you find the simple tips here useful for yourself and to share the page with your family and friends who may benefit from these simple tips.

Here are few things to support your heart health

CHECK/MONITOR YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE REGULARLY

This can be done on a weekly or biweekly basis using arm cuff blood pressure monitoring device. You can easily get this at the Pharmacy stores near you. Then make sure you have a notebook to record this regularly to be sure it is as much as possible below 120/80 mmHg the ideal blood pressure reading. However, if you are already a confirmed hypertensive, please work wit your healthcare professional to know what your optimal blood pressure readings should be for an individualized heart-health care.

YOUR FOOD CHOICES ARE KEY TO YOUR HEART-HEALTH

Adequate water intake is a must for all. High intake or eating of food rich in saturated fats (fats that are solid at room temperature such as butter including meat fats, vegetable oils etc.) and sodium found in salt for cooking, are one of the aggravating factors that contribute to high blood pressure. You want to restructure your diet or meals in such a way that you have half of the plate filled with vegetables, the other quarter of the plate filled with protein/nuts and the last quarter filled with some carbohydrate/fruits. This way, you will have a balanced diet with all the important nutrients available in a good ratio. This is because the body needs all the nutrients to function well,  they just have to be in the right quantities. For more on food choices see our page on this on this website.

YOUR EXERCISE HAS A PART TO PLAY IN YOUR HEART-HEALTH

The importance of exercising or engaging in physical activities cannot be over emphasized. Please keep up with some form of 30 minutes exercise for at least 3 to 4 times a week according to your capability. You can walk, dance, go to the gym to use the exercise tools there or, engage in some Yoga exercises at home, depending on what your body can take/tolerate. The most important thing is to be consistent, and you will love the feel of your heart and body in general. Exercising your body is like keeping the wheels of your bicycle moving, to prevent it from rust if left idle in the garage for too long. 

STRESS IS A BIG PART OF YOUR HEART-HEALTH

The world we live in now is full of stress, at home, at work, at social events whether you ask for it or not. Well, you must find a way to remove the stressors in your life or, avoid them as much as possible. Where it is not possible to remove or avoid stress, develop ways to manage it. For example, learn to let go of things out of your control and focus on items you have control over. Stress is not good for the heart as persistent and unmanaged stress can result in high blood pressure, in addition to potentially causing mental health issues. Learn to create at least 30minutes in a day for quite moment to meditate or relax with any type of music that sooths your heart or body. Look for positive things or activities that make you happy and focus on them rather than the stressors in your life. 

SLEEP – YOU WANT TO STRIVE FOR ADEQUATE SLEEP TIME

Some people wish they had more hours in the day to rest and sleep because they actually enjoy sleeping but, with their remarkably busy schedule they cannot. On the other hand, others have enough time to sleep but cannot sleep for up to 7 hours either due to age, disease condition or even self-inflicted time crunch. Sleep is important for the body to rest, reset itself and even change or grow fresh cells, maintain good brain health, keeping all the body systems fresh and active when you wake up. Inadequate sleep per day and if continuous, can have a debilitating effect on heart health. For adults, experts say 7 to 9 hours a day sleep is adequate, if you can sleep more than 9 hours, you are one of the lucky few and good for you. However, this is not usually common in adults but more for children. Learn to sleep or go to bed at the same time every day, and put away your electronic devices some few minutes before this bedtime.  

LIFESTYLE MODIFICATIONS 

We all want to live as freely as we wish with no inhibitions or restrictions, unfortunately our body has been programmed to receive only what is best for the optimal function of all the body systems, including the beautiful organ called the Heart. The following are some lifestyle changes or modifications you need to make to help your heart perform at its best always: 

• Stop smoking if you already do. 

• Avoid or reduce the amount of alcohol consumed daily. 

• Weight control – monitor and keep your Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18.5 to 24.9. 

•  Sedentary lifestyle: especially if you work from home, use and addictions to technology where you are seated on one spot for exceptionally long hours on your phone or watching movies. Move, move, and move on your feet as frequently as possible, it is the way to go here. 

REFERENCES 

If you need more details on some of the points raised in this article, please visit the following: 

1. World Health Organization; https://who.int – Hypertension 

2. Harvard Public Health Magazine: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu – Is Butter Really Back 

3. Mayo clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org: Dietary Fat: Know which to choose. 

4. National Institute of Health; https://www.nhibi.nih.gov: How sleep works and How much sleep is enough. 

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