Does heart disease manifest immediately, or over time?
Because it often presents itself suddenly – like a heart attack – many people assume that heart disease develops rapidly. But that’s not the case.
Often, it’s been slowly building for the past decade. As the symptoms for heart disease can vary widely, it’s very easy to overlook or dismiss them – until they stop you in your tracks one day. This is why it is so important to work to improve cardiovascular health early, and the good news is that simple strategies help with heart disease prevention.
Deciding to make healthier choices is one thing, but actually doing it is another. The big obstacle is that there’s so much misinformation out there, a lot of people make mistakes without even knowing it.
To help you avoid that misinformation and make the decisions that will have the biggest positive impact on your health, I’m going to show five of the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to heart health.
Not managing stress
Stress is very common, and it manifests in various ways. What’s also common is struggling to manage it.
According to the University of Rochester, ‘Your body’s response to stress is supposed to protect you. But, if it’s constant, it can harm you. The hormone cortisol is released in response to stress. Studies suggest that the high levels of cortisol from long-term stress can increase blood cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure. These are common risk factors for heart disease.’
Needless to say, when it comes to increasing heart health, it’s important to find healthy ways to manage stress. Ideally, you’d eliminate sources of stress but in the real world that’s not always possible, especially if your stress is caused or compounded by things like work and family.
Instead, you’ll need to focus on coping mechanisms. Learning to cope, rather than avoid, will also help you to handle many of life’s obstacles. As much as we may want to, it’s impossible to avoid all sources of stress, and knowing how to cope with them will help you to become stronger and more resilient.
My top suggestions for coping with stress are:
- Therapy
- Meditation
- Walking
- Listening to music
- Time without your phone
Being sedentary
It’s well known that a lack of physical activity can be a cause of heart disease. A lack of exercise can have a hugely negative impact on all areas of your health, so much so that people that are static for more than 11 hours a day are 40% more likely to develop a chronic illness than those that are static for only four hours a day.
One of the best things you can do to improve your cardiovascular health is to implement a regular exercise routine, which can:
- Lower blood pressure
- Reduce the risk of diabetes
- Help maintain a healthy weight
- Reduce inflammation throughout the body
- Reduce stress hormones
- Improve the ability of muscles to take in oxygen
You don’t need to devote hours a day to working out. Small amounts can add up, and you can start with something small. To get started, I recommend you set aside time to take short walks, even if it’s just 10 minutes . As you adapt to the new routine you can start to extend the length of your walks, or try to complete the same distance in less time.
High intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions are highly effective for getting a lot done in a short amount of time, and I also recommend a form of strength training a couple of times a week. If you don’t have access to a gym, simply perform bodyweight workouts at home, like pushups, squats and pull-ups. Each exercise has regressions too, making them accessible for people who aren’t currently able to perform the full variations.
Eating the wrong foods
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ and it’s entirely true. What we eat has a huge impact on our body’s ability to keep itself healthy. Exercise has developed a reputation as being capable of righting the wrongs of a bad diet, but this isn’t true. You can’t out-train a bad diet.
The impact of what we eat goes far beyond simple calories. Food
- Provides us energy
- Is used to build cells
- Regulates our hormones
A poor diet has a negative impact on all areas of our health and affects the way our bodies function. Just because someone spends a lot of time in the gym or has a good physique does not mean that they are healthy.
My main guideline for implementing a healthy diet is to only eat things that grow in the ground or that eat things that grow in the ground (in other words, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and animal products). Avoid products that were made in a factory and are sold in a packet. That includes seed oils, cereals, sugary snacks, and ready meals.
Food is the foundation of our health, so when it comes to heart disease prevention, the right diet is crucial.
Lifestyle habits
I’m not going to chastise anyone for a drink here and there or the occasional cigar. But excessive alcohol or tobacco consumption can wreck your health.
The CDC says that smoking is a major cause of heart disease and stroke, and causes one in every four deaths from them. That’s no surprise, considering it causes
- Increased blood pressure
- Narrowing of the arteries
- Buildup of plaque in the arteries
Excessive alcohol also has a significant impact on your health, and can cause
- High blood pressure
- Obesity
- Strokes
For heart disease prevention, moderation is key.
Ignoring the signs
If you’re concerned about your heart health, then don’t ignore it!
If you have any concerns or feel that you may have symptoms, go to your doctor immediately. Don’t just rely on getting treatment if you are affected with heart disease, because although it can be effective, it’s also life-changing
Heart disease can have many signs, some of which are easily dismissed. Some of the more obvious signs are
- Chest pain
- Swollen feet or ankles
- Shortness of breath
- Tiredness
- Indigestion
- A long lasting cough
If you are experiencing any of these, talk to a doctor so that you can start to improve your cardiovascular health quickly.
If you’d like to talk to me directly and discuss your heart or metabolic health, book a free telehealth consultation.