5 Simple Things You can do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

The human heart may not be the largest organ in the body but it probably is the most important. The heart is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body via the circulatory system, and it supplies oxygen and nutrients to the tissues; it also removes carbon dioxide and other waste products.5 Simple Things You can do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

 

Dr. Lawrence Phillips, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York said that “The tissues of the body need a constant supply of nutrition in order to be active and if the heart is not able to supply blood into the organs and tissues, they will die.”

How to Take Care of Your Heart

The heart being the center of the cardiovascular system is responsible for about just everything that gives your body life. That’s why the Bible tells us in Proverbs 4:23 (HCSB) to “Guard your heart above all else for it is the source of life.”

The heart is what keeps a person alive because when it fails to perform its normal functions, either the person becomes brain-dead or he dies. Either way, a person whose heart isn’t functioning does not exhibit any form of life.

How to Keep Your Heart Healthy

1. Be physically active every day.

You don’t have to go to the gym and exercise doesn’t have to be formal. You can just simply integrate your movement and motion into your routine activities. For instance, take the stairs instead of the elevator and if it’s feasible, walk to work. If your job requires you to sit in front of the computer for the rest of the day, you can get up every 5-10 minutes to interrupt bouts of sitting.

The more active you are, the stronger and healthier your heart will be.

5 Simple Things You can do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

2. Get enough sleep.

Sleep is essential for a healthy heart. Several recent studies showed that shortened sleep duration, that is, less than 6 hours of sleep, could result in an increased risk of heart disease, regardless of age, weight, smoking and exercise habits.

So how much sleep is the right amount? It varies from person to person, but most people need six to eight hours of sleep each day.

5 Simple Things You can do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

3. Cut down on your salt intake and increase your consumption of antioxidant-rich foods.

Too much sodium in your system causes your body to retain water, thereby putting an extra burden on your heart and blood vessels which leads to increased blood pressure. People with high blood pressure are at a higher risk of developing heart disease or have a stroke.

5 Simple Things You can Do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

Antioxidants are naturally occurring molecules that fight against the action of free radicals to help prevent heart disease and cancer. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fish, whole grains, and high fiber foods as they are a great source of antioxidants.

5 Simple Things You can do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

4. Don’t smoke.

Smoking causes a narrowing of the arteries and potential damage to the inner lining of blood vessels which in turn hardens the arteries. When the arteries harden due to a plague build-up called atherosclerosis, the blood supply to the heart is cut off resulting in a heart attack.

Passive smokers are also at risk of developing heart disease because breathing in second-hand smoke damages your arteries.

5 Simple Things You can do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

5. Laugh more.

It may be actually true that “laughter is the best medicine.” While exercise and a balanced diet are great for the heart, laughter is just as important. Laughter keeps the heart healthy by improving the function of the blood vessels and increasing blood flow, which helps to protect you against heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

5 Simple Things You can do to Keep Your Heart Healthy

Bottomline

Because the heart is busy working all the time and never gets a break, it’s very important that we take really good care of it. We need to determine what types of things are healthy for the heart and what will make it stronger in order to continue doing its job.

There a lot more ways to take good care of the heart. Even small changes in your habits can help improve your heart. However, just following the above recommendations will keep your heart healthy.

When you take care of your heart, you take care of your health. And why should you take care of your health? Because “health is wealth!”

 

14 thoughts on “5 Simple Things You can Do to Keep Your Heart Healthy”

  1. Very useful information indeed! Some may think that they have to spend a lot of money in order to keep their heart healthy, but doing simple things everyday will do.

    Being active everyday is one of the easiest tasks anyone can do to maintain a healthy heart. We just have to make a conscious choice to live healthy.

    Thanks for sharing.

    1. Doing the above things will keep our heart healthy.

      One that I used to struggle with is getting enough sleep everyday but I have learned to find time because I know that sleep is important for my health.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  2. Excellent website Alice. Thanks for sharing so much useful information. I hope that you have more of this quality articles to share as I look forward to reading more of them.

    My wife is quite good at keeping us healthy. Personally, I have given up a few of the bad habits I had when I was younger. Becoming older we are becoming wiser.

    What I love about reading good websites like yours is to have the pleasure of seeing how good I have become.

    Looking forward to your next post Alice.

    John ツ

    1. Hello John,

      Thanks for visiting my site and I’m glad you found my post to be useful. Well, I must say that you are blessed for having a wife who is good at taking care of your health and well-being.

      I will be sharing more tips and pointers on how to take care of our health in my succeeding posts. Thank you for your encouragement.

  3. Love your post. I know for a fact that I only do 3 out of the 5 so I better get my act together. Your post is very informative and easy to read. You site is also very well organized. I can also totally agree with you that laughing is key to a health heart.

    1. Hi Eddie, thanks for your comment. By the way, don’t feel so bad; practicing 3 out of the 5 is still better than not doing any of them at all.

  4. Fantastic article. In fact, it is just what I need. My heart is ok. But my concerns causes me to worry about heart. I have copd. Which Infects the pulmonary system. That and a sedentary lifestyle are cases for me to take your advice. Thanks.

    1. Hey Maurice, thanks for visiting. Glad to know that your heart is okay but not an excuse to neglect it.

      Having an active lifestyle should be the most fun way to take care of our heart and stay healthy but it’s also one that most people don’t like to do. Physical inactivity has been shown to be a major risk factor for heart diseases.

  5. I love your quote: “health is wealth!” That is so true. If you are not healthy and feeling good–nothing else matters. Taking care of your heart is essential for optimal health.

    1. Although we all know the old proverb, “Health is wealth” most people don’t really give their health much attention until such time that they start exhibiting signs and symptoms of a disease.

      Taking care of our health should always be one of our priorities because like you said, if we are not healthy, nothing else matters; we will never live life to the fullest.

  6. Such great information Alice. As someone who has high blood pressure and had a father who had a heart attack at the age of 25, I’ve always been aware of my health and physical well being. This article rings so true to me and good for you for putting such great information out there. Two things you taught me, I had no idea about enough sleep and laughter could help with the health of my heart. Thank you.

    1. Hello Juan,

      Your father having a heart attack at the age of 25 really does serve as a wake up call that anyone regardless of their age could be at risk of heart disease unless they start taking care of their health.

      I believe in the old saying that “prevention is better than cure.” So before we even start manifesting some signs of a heart disease or any health problems, we must do all we can to stay healthy. It always pays to be health-conscious because in the long run we will enjoy the benefits.

      And yes, laughter is not only good for the soul but for the heart as well so we should laugh more. Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV) says, “A merry heart does good like medicine…”

      Take care of your heart and stay healthy!

  7. A very well thought out guide to maintaining a healthy heart. I am at that age where I really do need to take care so your article was very meaningful to me. My family history of heart disease is not good either with my dad dying after his third heart attack at 53 and my Mum had her first at 47 however she was able to live on to be 82 but with little quality of life.
    Your pictures all speak volumes too. I love the last one, laugh more. We all need to do more of that. Thankyou for an informative article and a wake up call to look after my own heart health.

    1. Hi Judy

      I’m so sorry to hear of your family history of heart disease. Sometimes, we need a constant reminder that our health comes first before other things because no matter how successful we become if we’re not healthy our heart is not healthy, then everything else becomes irrelevant.

      So regardless of our age, we should take very good care of our heart because having a healthy heart makes a huge difference. And yes, we should laugh more often. We might be busy with so many things but we can always make time to bond with our family, friends and loved ones and enjoy a good laugh.

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