Heart thrives on healthy lifestyle
Every two minutes, someone in the UK has a heart attack. Heart and circulatory disease is the UKs biggest killer, with one in five men and one in six women dying from it.
With World Heart Day coming up on 25th September, its time to take stock of how you treat your heart and make sure you give it the care it needs to be healthy.
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Also, avoid frying food, trim off the fat from meat and poultry, and reduce the amount of salt in your diet, which can lead to high blood pressure. This can be very tricky as many foods have salt hidden in their ingredients where you would least expect it. For example, did you know that chocolate digestives contain 0.33g of salt per 30g portion, and a 100g flapjack contains 0.28g of salt? And thats not counting all the salt found in bread, processed foods, pizzas, and ready meals and even breakfast cereals.
The government recommends that adults eat six grammes of salt a day but the average intake is nine a day. Easy ways to cut down are to stop adding salt to food while cooking and once its served, reduce salty snacks such as crisps and nuts, as well as cheese, pickles and smoked fish, and cut down on sauces, especially soy sauce, which are often very high in salt.
The BHF also recommends keeping an eye on your alcohol intake. While one to two units a day is fine, any more than that is potentially a health risk, especially binge-drinking. So cut down on the tipples when you next go to a party.
We live in an age of treadmills and cross-trainers, and exercise is also top of the BHFs list for avoiding a heart attack. But in fact, you dont even need to join a gym. Just doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day is enough to reduce cholesterol levels, prevent and control high blood pressure, increase your energy levels, keep your weight under control and, of course, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
If the gyms not your thing, World Heart Day recommends getting off the train or bus a stop or two earlier and walking the rest of the way to work, using the stairs instead of the lift, walking around as much as possible during the day and at lunch, standing while on the phone and going to speak to someone in person instead of using the phone or email. All these can be built into your daily routine.
Smoking doesnt just cause lung cancer it also causes around 17 per cent of all deaths from heart disease, and increases the risk of having a heart attack by two or three times, compared with the risk to non-smokers, according to ASH, the anti-smoking pressure group. From the moment you quit, the risk of a heart attack starts to lower.
Also, there are the obvious precautions such as keeping your weight in check and adjusting your eating/exercising habits accordingly, and getting your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked by your GP especially if you have a family history of coronary heart disease or diabetes.
Stress is another factor that could possibly be linked to heart disease. The BHF says that half a million people in the UK believe work-related stress is making them ill. The main risk factors are high blood cholesterol, low physical activity, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and family history. Research is beginning to show that, for some people at least, stress may contribute to coronary heart disease, says Professor Andrew Steptoe, BHF Professor of Psychology at University College London. The message from the BHF is be aware of the warning signs and take action to manage your stress so that it does not damage your health.
For more information see the British Heart Foundations website: www.bhf.org.uk and World Heart Day: www.worldheartday.com
