Life has undergone a profound transformation owing to the convenience and drastic changes in the last few decades. The emphasis on heart health is more prevalent than ever due to the lifestyle changes people have adapted. The biggest drawback of a sedentary lifestyle is the state of health issues, especially concerning the heart. The number of cardio cases has also taken a massive leap among youngsters over the years.
As per The Times of India’s recent article, “In the last 20 years, there has been an alarming 200% increase in heart ailments among the population in the age group of 20-50 years in India, around 80% of heart attacks and strokes can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle, regular medical checkup, and early treatment.
To keep everyone aware of heart health's importance, World Health Day is observed with a different theme and intent every year on the 29th of September.
The World Heart Day theme for 2024 is, 'USE HEART FOR ACTION', encouraging individuals to take care of their heart, raise awareness about cardiovascular disease, and empower people to urge leaders to take cardiovascular health seriously. Additionally, motivating countries to develop and support cardiovascular health action plans.
This article is not only about world heart day, we’ll also shed light on the things one should avoid to keep the heart in fine fettle.
Things to Avoid to Keep Your Heart Healthy
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Almost a decade ago, heart conditions were prevalent among 40+, but now even youngsters are being entrapped with this deadly health condition. You can prevent heart disease by following a healthy regime. Here are the 7 unhealthy habits to start avoiding:
Alcohol Consumption and Smoking
It is highly recommended that quitting alcohol and smoking help you lead a healthy lifestyle. One of the most thoughtful habits you can adapt for your heart is to stop consuming alcohol and smoking. Substances that have toxic elements can damage the heart and blood vessels. Cigarette smoke reduces the oxygen in the blood, leading to increased blood pressure and heart rate because the heart works even more to supply adequate oxygen across the body.
The decision in itself will make you feel healthy and start detoxing your system.
Sedentary Lifestyle
Since the pandemic hit, the trend of working from home has made the masses couch potatoes. Not being able to move from one place for hours after meals may lead to poor heart health. If you have been lazy all this while, you probably need to work on a few physical goals, to begin with. Moderate exercise, such as a brisk walk or vigorous aerobic exercise, can help keep heart problems at bay. Even smaller bouts of physical activities offer great heart benefits, so don’t just give up yet.
Unhealthy Diet
Unhealthy food is undeniably delicious but comes with a cost to your health. An unhealthy diet directly shoots your blood pressure and cholesterol level up, increasing the risk of Type-2 diabetes. Whatever tastes good to your taste buds doesn’t mean it is healthy for your heart. A healthy heart needs healthy food rich in nutrients, so watch your food intake with poor nutritional value.
Limit the intake of the following for good heart health:
- Salty Food
- Sugary Food
- Processed carbs
- Alcohol and Smoking
- Saturated fat (red meat and full-fat dairy products) and trans fat (fried fast food, chips, and baked goods)
Being Overweight
Your weight is one of the biggest concerns when it comes to heart-related issues. Being overweight increases the risk and leads to conditions that aggravate the chances of developing heart diseases, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. Even shedding a few kgs can give you good results as it would directly impact your blood (triglycerides) and blood sugar (glucose) and reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes.
Poor Sleeping Habits
Insomnia is prevalent among young adults these days. Those who don’t get enough sleep have a higher risk of gaining weight(obesity), high blood pressure, heart attack, depression and high sugar levels. Seven hours of sleep each night assures good heart health, so make “early to bed, early to rise” your mantra as soon as you realise you have unhealthy sleep patterns.
Poor sleep patterns have the most significant impact on heart problems in young adults. However, there is also a condition where you get enough sleep but feel tired throughout the day. This condition could be the case of obstructive sleep apnea–a condition that increases the risk of heart disease. t. So, if you experience anything disrupting your sleep anyhow, consult your doctor for a better recommendation.
Leading a Stressful Life
Stress is among the most common reasons for heart attacks in recent years. It has been seen that many try to cope with stress in unhealthy ways such as doing stress eating, drinking or smoking or following more unhealthy habits. Instead, follow a healthy regime such as physical activity, meditation or relaxing exercise when stressed.
Avoiding Regular Health Check-ups
Young adults often ignore their regular health check-ups because they believe they are young and nothing can ever happen to them. So, if you feel anything that is not usual, see your physician as soon as possible and follow the instructions as advised. Your vitals, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, can gradually damage the heart and blood vessels, which may lead to a severe heart condition. So, regular health check-ups or screenings can tell you your vitals and whether you need to take action.
What are the Cardiovascular Risk factors?
There are various risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Here are a few of them:
- Lifestyle: Unhealthy diet, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity can all increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
- Age: Cardiovascular diseases increase with age; it is more common in people above the age of 50.
- Gender: As per the studies, men are more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases at a younger age as compared to women.
- Family history: If you have a family history of heart diseases, there are high chances that you might develop CVDs later in life.
- Other factors: There are several other factors that can increase the risk of CVDs, such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight, and obesity.
To lower the risk of CVD, healthcare professionals recommend regular physical activity. To safeguard heart health for seniors, the World Heart Federation recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate physical workout or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity weekly.
Safeguard Your Heart Health with Health Insurance
Investing in health insurance at an early age is quite beneficial. It helps youngsters avoid huge medical bills and live healthy life, especially when heart-related conditions are rampant during these vulnerable times.
Care Health Insurance’s Care Heart plan–specific insurance for cardiac patients and is beneficial for people with pre-existing heart ailments. With care heart insurance in place, you can safeguard yourself in times of crisis and get yourself covered against 16 critical heart diseases, including heart valve repair, aorta surgery, coronary artery bypass grafts, and others. After all, while saying “Happy Heart Day," we should actually mean it.
"Live healthy to keep your heart healthy!"
>> Also Read: Why should you invest in Heart Insurance?
Disclaimer: The above-mentioned information is for reference purposes only. Kindly consult your doctor in case of any emergency or doubt.
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