Prevent Heart Disease for a Healthy Heart for Life

If you have decided to improve your heart health, there cannot be anything better than that. People have this notion that big changes are required to be made to have an effect on ticker health, but even small, basic steps can have dramatic effects. A big drop in cardiovascular disease risk occurs when one goes from living a sedentary lifestyle to being active for as little as one hour a week. We all know the more active you are, the better. Just an hour of activity over the course of a week can make a huge difference.

Keeping heart disease at bay will lower your risk for life-threatening cardiac emergencies like a cardiac arrest or heart attack. The best way to handle out-of-hospital cardiac emergencies is by getting CPR trained. To sign up for a CPR class Indianapolis, don’t look beyond the AHA certified CPR Indianapolis where certified instructors impart both theoretical and practical training. 

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a life-saving procedure useful in many emergencies, including a heart attack or near drowning in which someone’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped. The American Heart Association recommends everyone to be CPR trained and that everyone from untrained bystanders to medical personnel alike start CPR with chest compressions on a cardiac arrest victim.

For improving heart health, get started with the following tips:

Diet- Boost your heart health by eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Eat your breakfast the first thing in the morning and include at least one serving of fruit or vegetable. In between meals, try and snack on vegetables or fruits. Make an effort to include vegetables and fruits in your daily meals. There’s no need for you to worry about the foods you shouldn’t eat, just make sure to get five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Physical Activity- Regular physical activity can hugely benefit your ticker. Regardless of what you do in a day, make sure to add at least 10 minutes of moderately intense physical activity. Although government recommends performing physical activity for 30 minutes or more a day, but even 10 minutes makes a difference. As per studies, just 60 to 90 minutes a week of physical activity can reduce your heart disease risk by up to 50 percent which is a big thing. As you become more active, gradually increase your total amount of activity each day.

Adequate Sleep- The busy lives that most people lead these days makes it challenging to make time for sleep, but it’s important as quality sleep is good for your heart. Get eight hours of good sleep every night. Eight is a good number to shoot for although each person’s sleep needs vary slightly.

These tips should be tried for two weeks before moving on to a more established heart-healthy plan. You can also try out other reputable diet and exercise plans offered by the American Heart Association.

Fasting Diet for Heart Health:

According to researchers, regularly fasting- severely limiting food and drink for a 24-hour period on one or two days of a week can potentially improve your risk factors associated with the health of your heart although researchers aren’t sure why. The effect of fasting on heart health is difficult to tell because many people who routinely fast often either for health or religious reasons generally tend to not smoke, which also can reduce heart disease risk.

But according to one study, people who follow a fasting diet may have better heart health than people who don't which can be attributed to the fact that individuals who routinely fast show self-control over how many calories they eat and drink which may translate into weight control and better eating choices when they aren't fasting.

Regular fasting and its connection with better ticker health may also be linked to the way one’s body metabolizes cholesterol and sugar. Fasting routinely can decrease your low-density lipoprotein, or "bad," cholesterol. It's also thought that fasting may improve the way your body metabolizes sugar which can reduce your risk of weight gain and developing diabetes- two leading risk factors for heart disease.

Consult with a healthcare provider if you are considering regular fasting as there are concerns about the potential side effects of regular fasting for certain people or in specific circumstances. More study is required to determine whether regular fasting can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease because the studies that have been conducted on people are mostly observational, having the lowest level of scientific evidence. Remember, a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly also can improve your heart health.

At CPR Indianapolis, either register for a course online or call us for registration.