Simple Lifestyle Changes for Heart Attack Prevention
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, but that doesn’t mean it’s inevitable. While there are some factors such as age, family history, and sex that you cannot have control over, there are a variety of efforts to reduce heart attack risk that you can implement into your daily routine.
Today, we’re looking at simple lifestyle changes for heart attack prevention. While it’s important to consult your doctor before making any changes to your health routine, these changes may lower your risk and help with how to prevent a heart attack in the future. Read on, and learn how to protect yourself as best you can.
Heart Attack Prevention Tips
Sometimes referred to as the “silent killer,” the symptoms of heart disease often go undiagnosed or unnoticed until it’s happening. This makes it all the more important to recognize heart attack prevention lifestyle changes that may reduce heart attack risk and keep you healthy.
Learning how to prevent a heart attack doesn’t have to upend your entire life. There are simple lifestyle changes that can easily become second nature to you, improving healthy habits and boosting your overall health and wellness. Some of these heart attack prevention changes include:
- Quitting smoking
- Following a healthy diet
- Keeping active
- Reducing stress levels
- Embracing positivity
- Prioritizing healthy sleep habits
Quitting Smoking
The most obvious start to any list of lifestyle changes for heart attack prevention is to quit smoking. Studies have shown that quitting smoking may reduce heart attack risk by upwards of 39% within 5 years. That’s a major reduction that can’t be overlooked! Not only is quitting smoking one of the biggest methods for how to prevent a heart attack, but it will also help improve lung function and your overall health.
Following a Healthy Diet
The food you eat can contribute to heart attack prevention, as well. Your diet directly impacts controllable heart attack risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, and obesity. Following a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and fish may even reduce heart attack risk in individuals by up to 18%. Experts also recommend limiting the intake of red meat, sweets, and sugar.
Keeping Active
Keeping active and getting daily exercise is a great way to practice heart attack prevention. Experts recommend you get at least 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week to maintain a healthy routine. Exercising regularly helps control high blood pressure, fight obesity to maintain a healthy weight, and improve heart health naturally.
Being active doesn’t require you to hit the gym every day for hours at a time. There are plenty of ways to stay active by getting creative with your daily routine. For example, you might integrate exercises to do at work to stay loose during breaks or go for a brisk walk after dinner.
Some people have even turned to zero gravity chair exercises that give you a full body workout right from the comfort of home! The aforementioned method allows you to combine the benefits of zero gravity chairs for heart attack prevention with your daily exercise and post workout recovery. One tool for all that? We’ll take it!
Reducing Stress Levels
It’s no secret that there have been correlations between stress and the risk of a heart attack. Next up on our list of lifestyle adjustments for heart attack prevention is learning how to manage stress levels effectively.
There are many ways to lower stress levels and reduce heart attack risk including learning how to meditate at home, exercising more, and using a zero gravity chair as part of a relaxing night time routine. Finding ways to relax and boost your overall health and wellness will lower cortisol levels, the stress hormone your body naturally produces.
Pain is another cause of stress that may go overlooked. When we think of stress, most often we consider work deadlines, stressful situations with others, or trigger activities like driving in heavy traffic. Pain, however, is another source of stress on our bodies that we need to treat. This is where zero gravity chairs come into play, once again, as they can help alleviate pain and enhance how the body heals itself.
Bonus Tip: Additional features of luxury zero gravity chairs like massage and heat therapy enhance the overall experience and help lower stress levels while healing the body efficiently.
Embracing Positivity
While it’s not a physical lifestyle change like exercising more or meditating for stress relief, embracing positivity may certainly help with heart attack prevention! Laughter and feeling lighthearted may actually help protect your heart. Laughing could have a beneficial effect as found in this study that showed how endorphins stimulate the inner lining of blood vessels. Who knew having a good time could go so far with heart attack prevention? Go out and enjoy!
Prioritizing Healthy Sleep Habits
Last, but not least, on our list of simple lifestyle changes for heart attack prevention is prioritizing restful sleep. Healthy sleep habits can have a substantial effect on how to prevent a heart attack, as sleep deprivation may lead to high blood pressure, breathing complications, obesity, and depression.
Experts recommend adults get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to maximize the effects of restorative sleep. More importantly, however, is that this should be 7 to 9 consecutive hours of sleep. Interrupted sleep patterns are detrimental to your health. If you struggle with sleeping in a bed, consider sleeping in a zero gravity chair as needed to enhance your overall sleep quality. Modern zero gravity recliners also offer safe sleeping positions for women who are pregnant, improving sleep during pregnancy and protecting the health of mother and baby.
As you’ve learned, making simple lifestyle changes for heart attack prevention doesn’t mean drastically reworking your everyday routine. Instead, find which of these methods works best for you and take the first steps to reduce heart attack risk in your life. As always, consult your doctor before beginning any new health routines to ensure it's safe for you to do so. These methods for how to prevent a heart attack will have you living your best life and staying healthy for the long term!
Curious about integrating a zero gravity chair with your heart attack prevention techniques? Check out the Svago ZGR Zero Gravity Recliner for a restorative zero gravity experience.