A heart is the center of a human’s body and pumps blood to all body parts. It is placed in the chest under the ribs. This organ has a muscular wall that pumps blood through arteries, and veins to deliver nutrients to every cell in the body.
Our heart is divided into four chambers: left and right atrium and left and right ventricles. The upper two chambers are called atria; they receive blood from your veins through an opening called a valve. The lower two chambers are known as ventricles; they pump blood out to the arteries through another opening, which is also called a valve. A healthy heart can pump blood through a large artery called the aorta and into smaller arteries. The blood then travels through capillaries which connect together to form veins.
You have valves in your heart to help it keep moving forward by pushing or pulling against each other in different directions so that one chamber doesn’t empty before another chamber fills up with blood again after emptying itself into your body’s organs like the lungs or brain etc.
Unfortunately, an unhealthy lifestyle, deficiency of certain nutrients, high cholesterol, and Smoking cause heart disease. For instance, anemic people experience irregular heartbeat due to low oxygen levels. That’s why people with low iron levels are suggested to take liquid iron supplements to maintain cardiovascular health.
Little changes in daily habits and food can prevent you from having several heart problems. Here are eight things you can do to keep your heart healthy and make sure it continues to work as efficiently as possible.
1) Eat Right
Studies have shown that people who eat a healthy diet have a reduced risk of heart disease. A well balanced meal contains fruit, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, and lean protein sources. Apart from this, eat foods that contain less saturated fat and cholesterol. This is because the food contains saturated fat and cholesterol like chips, egg, meat, baked products etc., raise bad cholesterol levels in the blood, which in turn increase the odds of heart disease and stroke.
2) Exercise Regularly
Exercise is one of the best and the easiest things you can do for your heart health. The truth is, exercising 30 minutes a day, five days a week, will help prevent heart disease, reduce your blood pressure, and keep your weight down.
3) Get Plenty of Sleep
Good sleep is imperative for a plethora of reasons, including maintaining good heart health. Studies affirm that getting 8-9 hours sleep helps lower blood pressure and alleviate stress. Getting quality sleep will also help you make better choices about food, exercise, and other lifestyle habits. So, try to get sufficient sleep each night for optimal heart health.
4) Avoid Smoking
Smoking contributes to high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, lung cancer. And fortunately, when you quit, you lower your risk for these ailments right away.
5) Drink Alcohol Only In Moderation
Drinking more than one alcoholic drink a day for women or two drinks a day for men increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart failure, and stroke. It can also elevate the risk of breast cancer in females. For good cardiovascular health, limit alcohol to one drink per day for females or two drinks per day for male.
6) Stay Hydrated
Water ships all essential nutrients to your body’s cells and keeps organs functioning properly. It also aids you maintain an optimum weight by making you feel full longer. In turn, this helps prevent high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes—both of which put a strain on your heart. Stay hydrated by drinking water, juices, and butter milk throughout the day, especially on dog days when you’re sweating more.
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7) Take Enough Iron
Appropriate amount of iron is also required for good cardiovascular health. There is low oxygen in the blood of anemic people, and their heart needs to pump hard to compensate for low oxygen levels., which ultimately leads to heart failure. So, it is better to eat iron-rich food and take liquid iron supplements.
8) Limit Stress
Stress can be a major cause of high blood pressure which puts an added strain on the cardiovascular system, increasing the risk of stroke or heart attack. Finding ways to manage stress such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, or yoga is important for good heart health.
Start taking care of your cardiovascular health from today to avoid complexities in the time ahead!