Medusa

9 Ways To Decrease The Likelihood Of Heart Disease

<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">One of the biggest killers of adults is heart disease&period; For this reason&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s been a recent push to get healthier at a younger age&period; Here are a few ways to decrease the likelihood of succumbing to heart disease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7445" title&equals;"9 Ways To Decrease The Likelihood Of Heart Disease" alt&equals;"9 Ways To Decrease The Likelihood Of Heart Disease" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;medusamagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;09&sol;exercise&period;jpg" width&equals;"425" height&equals;"282" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Quit Smoking<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You&&num;8217&semi;ve been meaning to get around to this&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ve told yourself that one more won&&num;8217&semi;t hurt&period; The truth is&comma; every single cigarette you smoke shaves just a little bit off of your life&period; By smoking&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;re doubling your chance of having a heart attack and increasing your chance of dying from a heart attack by 70 percent&period; Smoking is also the leading cause of sudden cardiac death&period; Whether you quit cold turkey or find a way to slowly wean yourself off of it&comma; find a way to stop&period; If you don&&num;8217&semi;t smoke&comma; never start&period; This also applies to smokeless tobacco&comma; which also contains nicotine&period; Nicotine restricts your blood vessels and makes your heart work faster&comma; leading to elevated blood pressure and heart rates&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Stay Active<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Stay active by exercising&comma; no matter your age&period; Exercise reduces blood pressure&comma; raises HDL cholesterol&comma; and helps people maintain a healthy weight&period; Ideally&comma; you should exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes a day&comma; for five days a week&period; If you can&&num;8217&semi;t fit 30 minutes of exercise into your schedule&comma; change your lifestyle a bit&period; Instead of taking the elevator at your office&comma; take the stairs&period; Take frequent breaks and walk around as much as you can&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Maintain Your Weight<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be an issue if you&&num;8217&semi;re staying physically active and eating a healthy diet&period; Losing five to ten percent of your current weight can lower your risk of heart disease if you&&num;8217&semi;re overweight or obese&period; You can try all of the different weight loss methods as you&&num;8217&semi;d like&comma; but there&&num;8217&semi;s really only one way to lose weight&colon; count calories and exercise&period; Burning off more calories than you&&num;8217&semi;re taking in is the only way to achieve your weight goal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Watch What You Eat<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In addition to always watching your portion sized&comma; you should also try to eliminate all trans-fat and saturated fat from your diet&period; These types of fats are found in red meat&comma; full-fat dairy products&comma; fried food&comma; packaged food&comma; and processed baked goods&period; Both trans-fat and saturated fat have been linked to an increase in blood pressure&comma; which leads to a higher chance of developing heart disease&period; The effectiveness of plavix as a preventative to strokes has been well documented&comma; so if you&&num;8217&semi;ve had a stroke in the past and are worried about having a heart attack&comma; look into plavix&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Drink in Moderation<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Drinking in excess will always have negative effects&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s been said that drinking in moderation can help prevent heart attacks&period; Men&comma; ideally&comma; can have two 12 oz&period; cans of beer a day&comma; and women can have one 12 oz&period; can of beer a day&period; Anything in excess of this can lead to heart attack&comma; stroke&comma; cirrhosis of the liver&comma; and possibly cancer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Take Aspirin<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This should only be done after you&&num;8217&semi;ve consulted with your physician because some aspirin does have side effects&period; Baby aspirin or half of a regular aspirin can lower the risk of a heart attack by about one-third&period; Aspirin reduces the ability of the platelets in blood to congeal and form clots&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Get Tested<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Go through a number of screenings every two to three years&period; Have your blood pressure checked&period; If a high blood pressure is detected&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll have to have it checked more often than that&period; Have your cholesterol level checked&period; Get your blood sugar tested&comma; especially if you have a family history of diabetes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Manage Your Stress<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It&&num;8217&semi;s extremely important to keep your stress levels low&comma; which is probably easier said than done&period; There are many options to relieve stress&comma; such as aromatherapy or yoga&period; You could combine this with exercise and go for a stress-relieving bike ride&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Get Sleep<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Another very important factor in the prevention of heart disease is something that could probably be easily achieved&comma; but something that we usually skip over&colon; sleep&period; By exercising&comma; eating healthy&comma; drinking in moderation&comma; not smoking&comma; and getting a full night&&num;8217&semi;s sleep&comma; you have a 65 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease and an 83 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">No matter what age you are&comma; there are many things you can do to be proactive in losing weight&period; Whether you&&num;8217&semi;re making a lifestyle change or doing something outside of your comfort zone&comma; any of these tips will lower your risk of succumbing to heart disease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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