Tips for Healthy Heart: How to Prevent Heart Disease and Live Longer

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, claiming millions of lives every year. It can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity. You can prevent heart disease and live longer by following some simple tips for a healthy heart.

In this article, we’ll share with you some of the best tips for a healthy heart that can help you lower your risk of heart disease and improve your cardiovascular health. We’ll also introduce you to Healeo’s DNA-based heart health program, which is a personalized and comprehensive way to prevent heart attacks and optimize your heart function. And we’ll tell you how Healeo’s ashwagandha can help you improve your heart health by reducing stress, improving sleep, and supporting your blood pressure.

What is Heart Disease and How to Prevent It?

Heart disease is a broad term that covers various conditions that affect your heart and blood vessels. These include:

• Coronary artery disease (CAD), which is the narrowing or blockage of the arteries that supply blood to your heart muscle. This can cause chest pain (angina), irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), or heart attack.
• Heart failure, which is when your heart can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs. This can cause shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling in your legs or abdomen, or sudden weight gain.
• Stroke, which is when a blood clot or a ruptured blood vessel interrupts the blood flow to your brain. This can cause paralysis, speech problems, vision loss, or death.
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD), is the narrowing or blockage of the arteries that supply blood to your limbs. This can cause pain, numbness, or infection in your legs or feet.

The main causes of heart disease are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet.

Some other risk factors that you can’t change are age, family history, gender, and ethnicity. These are called non-modifiable risk factors because they are inherited or determined by nature. Nevertheless, your overall risk can still be reduced if you control the modifiable factors

The best way to prevent heart disease is to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes:

• Eating a balanced diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats. Avoid foods that are high in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars.
• Getting regular physical activity that gets your heart rate up and makes you sweat. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking, cycling, or swimming) or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise (such as running, jumping rope, or playing sports) per week. 
• Maintaining a healthy weight that is appropriate for your height and body type. Being overweight or obese can put extra strain on your heart and increase your risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. To lose weight or keep it off, you need to burn more calories than you consume.
• Quitting smoking and avoiding exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking damages your blood vessels and makes your blood more likely to clot. It also lowers the amount of oxygen in your blood and makes your heart work harder. Quitting smoking can lower your risk of heart disease by half within a year. If you need help quitting, talk to your doctor about nicotine replacement products or counselling programs.
• Managing your stress levels and coping with negative emotions in healthy ways. Stress can raise your blood pressure and heart rate and trigger unhealthy behaviour such as overeating, smoking, or drinking alcohol. To reduce stress, you can practice relaxation techniques (such as deep breathing, meditation, or yoga), engage in hobbies (such as reading, gardening, or knitting), listen to music, laugh more often, or seek social support from friends and family.
• Limiting alcohol intake to no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. Drinking too much alcohol can raise your blood pressure and triglyceride levels and damage your heart muscle. It can also interfere with your medications and cause liver problems. If you don’t drink, don’t start. If you do drink, do it in moderation and avoid binge drinking.
• Checking your blood pressure and cholesterol levels regularly and taking medications as prescribed by your doctor. High blood pressure and high cholesterol are often called “silent killers” because they usually don’t cause any symptoms until they cause serious damage to your heart and blood vessels. The only way to know if you have them is to measure them. You can check your blood pressure at home with a monitor or at a pharmacy or clinic. You can check your cholesterol with a blood test at your doctor’s office or a lab. If your numbers are too high, your doctor may prescribe medications to lower them and prevent complications.

How Healeo’s DNA-Based Heart Health Program Can Help You Prevent Heart Attacks

While following the tips for a healthy heart above can help you lower your risk of heart disease, they may not be enough for some people who have a genetic predisposition to heart attacks. This means that they have inherited certain genes that make them more likely to develop heart disease or have a heart attack at a young age.

If you have a family history of heart attacks or want to know your genetic risk, you may benefit from Healeo’s DNA-based heart health program. This is a personalized and comprehensive program that uses your DNA to assess your risk of heart attacks and provides you with customized recommendations to prevent them.

The program involves three steps:

• Step 1: DNA test. You will receive a saliva collection kit that you can use at home to collect your DNA sample. 
• Step 2: Risk assessment. Healeo’s experts will analyze your DNA and generate a detailed report that shows your risk of heart attacks based on your genetic profile. The report will also explain the factors that influence your risk, such as lifestyle, diet, medications, and family history.
• Step 3: Prevention plan. Based on your risk assessment, Healeo’s experts will create a personalized prevention plan that includes specific recommendations for improving your heart health and lowering your risk of heart attacks. The plan will cover areas such as nutrition, exercise, supplements, medications, stress management, and more.

With Healeo's DNA-based heart health program, you can take control of your heart health and prevent heart attacks before they occur. 

Book a Consultation today!

How Healeo’s Ashwagandha Can Help You Improve Your Heart Health

Another way to improve your heart health is to take Healeo’s ashwagandha, which is a natural supplement that has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine. Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, which means that it helps your body adapt to stress and restore balance.

Healeo’s ashwagandha can help you improve your heart health by:

• Reducing stress. Ashwagandha can lower the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, in your body and calm your nervous system. This can help you cope with stress better and prevent its negative effects on your heart.
• Improving sleep. Ashwagandha can improve the quality and duration of your sleep by regulating your circadian rhythm, the natural cycle that tells you when to sleep and wake up. This can help you feel more rested and energized and reduce the risk of sleep disorders that can harm your heart.
• Supporting blood pressure. Ashwagandha can help lower high blood pressure by relaxing your blood vessels and improving blood flow. This can help prevent hypertension, which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

Healeo’s ashwagandha is made from organic ashwagandha root extract that is standardized to contain 5% withanolides, the active compounds that provide the benefits. It is also vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and non-GMO.

Summary

Heart disease is a serious condition that can affect anyone, but you can prevent it and live longer by following some simple tips for a healthy heart. 

If you have a genetic predisposition to heart attacks or want to know your genetic risk, you may benefit from Healeo’s DNA-based heart health program, which is a personalized and comprehensive program that uses your DNA to assess your risk of heart attacks and provide you with customized recommendations to prevent them.