Coronary Heart Disease: How To Prevent It
Coronary heart disease, or CHD, is a surprisingly common condition that leads to countless deaths around the world every year. Seen as you’ve made it to this blog, I’m sure you know that typical modern lifestyle choices aren’t exactly helpful when it comes to preventing heart disease and other deadly conditions. Having said that, there are various things you can do to lower your risk of developing this horrible disease…
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Quit Smoking
If you smoke, I bet you’re sick of hearing this. Seriously though, quit! Giving up this bad habit will greatly reduce your risk of getting CHD in later life. Tobacco consumption is a major risk factor in atherosclerosis, the furring of the body’s arteries. It’s also found to be the root of the most cases of coronary thrombosis in people over the age of 50. Whether you use patches and gum, e-cigs, or just your own self-discipline, quitting smoking should be high on your to-do list in improving your health. The stress of quitting certainly isn’t easy to get through, but it beats needing an external defibrillator!
Be More Active
Combining a healthy diet with regular, vigorous exercise is one of the best ways of maintaining a healthy weight. A healthy weight reduces your chances of developing high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a major risk factor in developing coronary heart disease. Check your weight now, and compare this to what’s healthy for your age and height. If you’re overweight, start getting a plan together to turn this around. Regular exercise will lead to a more efficient heart and circulatory system, a lower cholesterol level, and a healthy blood pressure. This leads me onto my next point…
Control your Blood Pressure
Even if you’re not overweight, your blood pressure could be at an unhealthy level, increasing your risk of developing coronary heart disease. You can keep it under control by maintaining a diet that’s low in saturated fat, and, if required, taking any kind of medication you’ve been prescribed to control your blood pressure. For adults, your blood pressure should be below 140/85 mmHg. If you find you have high pressure, talk to your physician immediately.
Reduce your Alcohol Consumption
In terms of health, most people could do with cutting down on their alcohol consumption to some degree. While consuming some alcohol, particularly in the form of red wine, can have certain health benefits, it’s important that you don’t exceed the recommended amount. This is one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men (sorry!). Here, a “drink” is defined by 12 ounces of 5% beer, 5 ounces of 12% wine, or a single shot of an 80-proof spirit. If you’re already drinking around this much or more, try to spread it out a little. You should also avoid binge drinking as much as possible. This can be a major contributing factor in heart attacks.
If you’ve been hearing a lot about CHD, and you were wondering how you can avoid it, I hope this post has helped you tweak your lifestyle choices.