Heart disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada and every hour 12 adults in the country die as a result of heart disease. However from 2001 to 2013 the number of adults diagnosed with heart disease fell from 221,800 to 158,700.
Improved medical care has obviously contributed to reduced numbers of diagnoses, but so has education and lifestyle choices. Whether or not you’re in great health or are recovering from a heart attack, the tips below will help you to keep your major organ in the best shape possible.
Quit Smoking
We all know that smoking is bad for us and the main cause of lung cancer, but smoking affects your heart as well as your lungs. Every time you take a draw from a cigarette fatty material called atheroma builds up in your arteries limiting the amount of oxygen going to your heart.
This build up makes you more susceptible to a clot as well, which is one of the major causes of heart attacks. Every single time you smoke, you are dramatically increasing your risks of suffering a heart attack. If you would like help with quitting, you can find it HERE.
Eat healthy
Saturated fats are the enemy of good heart health as they increase the levels of bad cholesterol in your blood and put a lot of pressure on your heart. So you should try your best to avoid these types of food; meat pies, sausages, butter, lard, cream and hard cheese.
If you do eat these foods, you should do so in moderation as well as ensuring that you don’t regularly exceed 6g of salt a day. To improve your heart healthy try and eat the following foods; oily fish, avocados, nuts and seeds, sunflower, rapeseed, olive and vegetable oils.
Cut down your drinking
There is a clear correlation between alcohol consumption and high blood pressure, which puts a strain on your heart and leads to cardiovascular disease. On average, Canadians drink 50% above the world average which costs over $14 billion a year in medical costs.
If you enjoy a drink it’s important to remember that we’re not telling you to quit all together. Instead try and limit your drinking to 2 or 3 days a week and make sure you don’t drink more than 2 large servings in one sitting. Also avoid binge drinking wherever possible as studies have shown that one night of excess can be hugely detrimental to your overall health.
Increase your exercise
Canada ranks amongst the most overweight countries in the world, and that’s bad news for heart health as obesity severely impacts the hearts ability to operate successfully. In tandem with a balanced diet, increasing your physical activity will help you to regulate your weight and ease the pressure on your heart.
Even just 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day can lower your cholesterol, regulate your blood pressure and improve the efficiency of your circulatory system. Those that don’t exercise are twice as likely to have a heart attack as those who exercise regularly, so push yourself!
