Cardiovascular health is something people don’t think a lot about – it sounds a little strange to think you can do things to keep your heart healthy, doesn’t it? But, maintaining your cardiovascular health is one of the most important things you can do for your overall health.
Without your heart, your blood wouldn’t flow throughout your body. People think heart health means medical treatment, procedures, or medication, but there are nonsurgical, drug-free ways to keep your heart healthy.
4 Ways to Improve Your Cardiovascular Health
1. Have a balanced diet
When it comes to keeping your heart healthy, it starts with your diet. It’s important to have a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, and other nutrients. To improve or maintain your heart health, you don’t have to follow fad diets – simply practicing mindful eating will work. If you stick to the foods that you know your body loves and are good for you, your heart will thank you!
2. Get your proper sleep
It’s easy to put our sleep on the back burner between your work and personal life but getting enough sleep needs to be on the top spot of your priority list. The more sleep you get, the less your heart must work to increase blood flow. If you aren’t sleeping enough, you are most likely more stressed and exhausted — meaning your heart has to work harder throughout the day.
3. Be more active
While this may sound cliché — getting your exercise is important for your heart! Getting active is a great way to avoid any heart conditions and reduce your risk of heart attack and heart disease. Getting exercise every day helps to control common heart conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and obesity. So, get out and get moving if you want a healthy heart!
4. Understand your vitals
Understanding your vitals will always help you maintain a healthy heart. You should always know what your blood pressure is, your cholesterol levels, and more. We always recommend seeing your doctor often if you have heart conditions in your family history. It’s always better to be safe than sorry! Find out where you can improve in terms of your vitals, and take the necessary steps.
Albany Chiropractic & Physical Therapy is available to help make all individuals around New York’s Capital Region the healthiest versions possible — in a comfortable, drug-free, and manageable way. To learn more about exercising for heart health or to schedule an appointment today, give our office a call at (518) 869-3884.
This article was written with information from the Heart Foundation and the Cleveland Clinic.