Habits for a Healthier Heart

Since February is American Heart Month, we’ve teamed up with the American Heart Association to bring you heart-healthy tips all month long! Our last post in this series featured Activities to Keep Your Heart Healthy.

Habits for a Healthy Heart

When it comes to our everyday lives, there’s a lot of minor decision-making that happens that doesn’t seem like a big deal at the time. But when those minor decisions happen constantly, they become habit. Sometimes, those are habits we’d be better off without.

That’s why we asked board-certified cardiologist Tara Narula, M.D., to share her tips on what habits you should cut – and which you should start forming – for a healthier heart:

  1. Exercise: Make sure exercise and daily fitness is a part of your routine.
  2. Eat a heart-healthy diet: Food is medicine – it’s the fuel your body is working off of.
  3. Get a good night’s sleep: Most of us don’t get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Lack of good quality sleep is a problem. Conditions like sleep apnea can raise blood pressure, and lack of sleep can also affect the way you process blood sugar. Make sleep a priority so you get 7-8 hours and establish good sleep hygiene/habits. Make the time before you go to bed as peaceful as possible. Shut off your smartphone and other electronic devices, and make sure your room is dark and quiet.
  4. Reduce stress: Exercise definitely helps with stress reduction, and you can also help moderate stress with yoga, meditation or other relaxation exercises.
  5. Manage your weight: Figure out your BMI or weight circumference. Keeping a healthy weight will keep you healthy in the long run.
  6. Moderate your drinking: Be mindful of how much alcohol you consume. That means no more than two drinks a day for men and one drink per day per women.
  7. Stop smoking, if you do: If you can stop, that’s a huge step towards better health. You can see the positive results in months.
  8. Know your history: You can also look at getting healthier in terms of knowing what your risk is. Prioritize your health so you can do a better job at making changes specific to curtailing your risk factors. Even if you have a family history of heart disease, people can certainly work on a lot of these other areas to improve the cards they’ve been dealt.

Tara Narula, M.D.Board-certified cardiologist Tara Narula, M.D., is a volunteer spokesperson for the American Heart Association, Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Hofstra University NSLIJ School of Medicine and Associate Director of the Cardiac Care Unit at Lenox Hill Hospital/NSLIJ in Manhattan. She also serves as a medical contributor for “CBS This Morning.”

 

 

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