Discover the essential steps to maintain a healthy heart. Learn the crucial numbers to monitor, healthy-heart habits, and the truth about popular supplements. Explore risk factors, surprising body cues, and budget-friendly heart-healthy eating.

Crucial Heart Health Numbers to Track

Maintaining a healthy heart requires understanding and monitoring key numbers. Here are five essential heart health metrics you should know:

1. Blood pressure: Aim for a reading below 120/80 mmHg to keep your heart working efficiently.
2. Cholesterol: Strive for an LDL (bad) cholesterol level below 100 mg/dL and an HDL (good) cholesterol level above 40 mg/dL for men and 50 mg/dL for women.
3. Body Mass Index (BMI): Maintain a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 to reduce the strain on your heart.
4. Waist circumference: Keep your waist measurement below 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women to minimize abdominal fat, a risk factor for heart disease.
5. Blood sugar: Aim for a fasting blood sugar level below 100 mg/dL to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes, which can negatively impact heart health.

Healthy-Heart Habits That Take Minutes

Improving your heart health doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Incorporate these five simple steps into your daily routine:

1. Take a 10-minute walk: Even a short walk can help lower blood pressure, improve circulation, and boost mood.
2. Meditate for 5 minutes: Reducing stress through mindfulness practices can help lower your risk of heart disease.
3. Drink a glass of water: Staying hydrated supports heart function and cardiovascular health.
4. Eat a handful of nuts: Snacking on nuts like almonds, walnuts, or pecans can provide heart-healthy fats and fiber.
5. Practice deep breathing: Taking a few minutes to breathe deeply can help lower blood pressure and heart rate.

The Truth About Popular Heart Health Supplements

Supplements like omega-3s, CoQ10, and garlic are often touted for their heart-health benefits. But what does the research say?

Omega-3s

Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil may help lower triglycerides and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, especially for those with high triglyceride levels.

CoQ10

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplements may slightly lower blood pressure, but the evidence is still inconclusive on their effectiveness for preventing or treating heart disease.

Garlic

While garlic has shown some promise in lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, the effects are modest, and more research is needed to confirm its cardiovascular benefits.

Surprising Body Cues That Could Signal a Heart Concern

Sometimes, the body provides subtle clues about potential heart health issues. Keep an eye out for these surprising signs:

1. Swollen legs or feet: This could indicate fluid buildup, a symptom of heart failure.
2. Brittle nails: Weak, crumbly nails may be a sign of poor circulation or anemia, both of which can impact heart health.
3. Cold hands or feet: Persistent cold extremities may suggest poor blood flow, a potential symptom of heart disease.
4. Unexplained fatigue: Feeling constantly tired without a clear cause could be a red flag for an underlying heart condition.
5. Snoring or sleep apnea: Interrupted breathing during sleep can strain the heart and increase the risk of heart disease.

Heart-Healthy Eating on a Budget

Maintaining a heart-healthy diet doesn’t have to break the bank. Here are some tips for eating well while saving money:

• Focus on whole, plant-based foods: Incorporate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and lean proteins, which are generally more affordable than processed or animal-based foods.
• Buy in bulk: Purchase larger quantities of non-perishable items like oats, brown rice, and beans to save money in the long run.
• Opt for frozen produce: Frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh and often cost less.
• Plan meals in advance: Making a meal plan and grocery list can help you avoid impulse purchases and waste less food.
• Embrace plant-based protein sources: Legumes, tofu, and eggs are generally more budget-friendly than meat or fish.

Risk Factors for Heart Disease: Don’t Underestimate Stress

When it comes to heart health, it’s important to recognize the impact of stress. While factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and family history are well-known risk factors, the role of stress is often overlooked.

Chronic stress can have a significant effect on the cardiovascular system, leading to inflammation, increased blood pressure, and an elevated risk of heart attack and stroke. To mitigate the effects of stress, consider incorporating stress management techniques like meditation, exercise, or talking to a mental health professional.

Heart Health | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Stay Healthy

5 Heart Numbers You Need to Know

Stay Healthy

5 Healthy-Heart Steps That Take Just Minutes

Eat Smart

The Truth About 4 Popular Heart Health Supplements

Know Your Risks

Risk Factors for Heart Disease: Don’t Underestimate Stress

Know Your Risks

Surprising Body Cues That Could Be a Heart Concern

Eat Smart

Heart-Healthy Eating on a Budget

Heart Health Wellness and Prevention 

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From the latest heart health news, treatments and therapies, inspiring patient stories, to expert advice, we’re here to help you live your healthiest life every day.

THE LATEST

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Healthy Heart | p4spb

Heart health plays an important role in a full human life. Cardiovascular diseases rank first among the causes of death in people in the world, incl. and Russia. And sadly, these diseases are getting younger and younger. The statistics of cardiovascular diseases looks disappointing: about 17.9 million people die annually in the world, including 1.3 million in Russia. Heart and vascular diseases in Russians account for 53% of total mortality. The main role here is played by coronary heart disease and arterial hypertension with its complications – myocardial infarctions and strokes. If all over the world heart attacks and strokes on average lead to a fatal outcome of one person per thousand, then in our country – three per thousand population.

The state of the organs and systems of the body, and hence the life expectancy of a person, depends on the proper functioning of the heart and the entire cardiovascular system.

An unhealthy lifestyle that leads to the development of diseases of the cardiovascular system is most often formed in childhood and adolescence, and with age, the risk of heart and vascular diseases only increases.

Risk factors that negatively affect the cardiovascular system of a teenager: lack of physical activity, unhealthy diet and obesity, harmful use of alcohol and tobacco, the presence of negative emotions.

​

Prevention of cardiovascular diseases should start from childhood. The following rules for a healthy heart will help strengthen the young heart of a teenager:

​

Rule 1. Physical activity!

Low physical activity leads to weakness of the heart muscle. The heart does not fully cope with its functions, and violations occur. Physical activity is simply necessary for your heart: this is gymnastics, swimming, walking, cycling, tennis, walking in the fresh air, feasible work. Such physical activity strengthens the cardiorespiratory system, normalizes blood pressure, lowers cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Regular exercise reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 3 times. To prevent diseases of the heart and blood vessels, physical activity is required, and the heart – like any muscle – requires physical training.

Active lifestyle – strong and healthy heart!

​

Rule 2. Healthy eating!

Proper nutrition is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A teenager should eat regularly: 4-5 times a day in small portions with breaks no more than 3-4 hours, at the same time; have dinner no later than 2-3 hours before bedtime. Fluid needs to be consumed up to 2 liters per day. Adolescents need more nutrients and energy than children and adults (they should receive at least 29 per day00-3100 kcal). At the same time, their diet should be healthy and balanced: include a sufficient amount of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean meat, milk

and dairy products, vegetable oils, legumes, cereals, sea fish and seafood.

It is necessary to limit or eliminate the presence in the diet of fast carbohydrates, salt, flour, sweet, fatty and fried, the so-called fast food and other unhealthy foods.

Obesity in adolescents is based on an imbalance between the intake of energy in the body and its expenditure. The development of obesity as a result of overeating against the background of low physical activity leads to fatty deposits both in the heart and in the vessels – all this increases the risk of heart disease. Correction of nutrition, increasing the physical activity of a full child are the necessary components of the normalization of his weight.

A healthy diet can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease.

​

Rule 3. Give up bad habits!

Smoking is the main enemy of your heart. Nicotine raises the level of cholesterol in the blood and destroys blood vessels. Tobacco smoke contains a huge amount of carcinogens that can lead to atherosclerosis. After one cigarette smoked, blood pressure rises, the risk of thrombosis and blockage of the arteries increases. Vasoconstriction during smoking causes oxygen starvation – hypoxia. Those who smoke several cigarettes a day have a 2-fold increase in the risk of stroke and heart attack. And the nicotine contained in cigarettes accumulates and settles in the bronchi and lungs.

Excessive and frequent consumption of alcoholic beverages and beer can damage the muscles and blood vessels of the heart. There may be disturbances in the rhythm and work of the heart. In the future, cardiomyopathy and various irreversible disorders in the structure and functioning of the cardiovascular system may develop.

​

Rule 4. Learn to manage stress!

Stress and negative emotions negatively affect heart health. These phenomena can lead to an increase in blood pressure, increase the load on the heart muscle. It is impossible to avoid stress and negative emotions in everyday life, but learning to cope with them is quite possible.

It is necessary to learn how to rest properly. Healthy sleep lasts 7-8 hours. To improve sleep quality, try to go to bed and wake up at the same time, stop watching TV and scrolling through the social media feed before bed.

Regular medical examinations are also important for the early detection of heart problems.

The main ways to reduce the risk of heart disease should be controlled by YOU, not the doctor!

For the prevention of diseases of the cardiovascular system, you will not need special pills, but only a responsible attitude towards yourself and your body, incl. and to your heart.

​

According to the World Heart Federation, 80% of heart disease is preventable through a healthy lifestyle!

A healthy lifestyle becomes most effective if it is adopted by parents, if their behavior, culture of communication, nutrition, hygiene habits, adherence to physical culture will be the conditions of everyday life for the child.

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