Lifestyle Changes To Lower Heart Disease Risk

Almost half of all premature deaths occur due to unhealthy choices in lifestyle. People who don’t exercise sufficiently, follow a poor diet, and indulge in smoking remain within the boundaries of risk. These things increase the possibilities of high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes, and stroke.

However, if these people can introduce a few lifestyle changes, then they can induce a massive difference. An experiment analyzed over 55,000 commoners who lead favorable lifestyle habits. These individuals don’t smoke, eat a healthy diet, and engage in regular physical activity. Their habits allowed them to lower the possibilities of heart disease risk by nearly 50%.

Changes that can lower the risk of heart diseases

If you wish to lead a healthy life, then there is a range of behaviors that you must adopt. The acronym ABCDES is one way to think about heart disease risks and subsequent lifestyle alterations.

• A – alcohol

• B – blood pressure

• C – cholesterol

• D – diabetes

• E – exercise

• S – smoking

Here is an explanation of all these elements

Stay away from excess alcohol

Though it is a controversial statement, some people claim that light to moderate consumption of alcohol is beneficial to health. As soon as the consumption reaches excessive quantities, you will be prone to heart and liver diseases that can lead to death. Studies prove that more than 7 drinks a week can lead to severe harm.

/Diet to decrease high blood pressure

If you have high blood pressure, then you can resort to a pattern commonly known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). This dietary technique incorporates foods that help you to lower your blood pressure. Your diet should include items such as fruits, whole grains, vegetables, nuts, legumes, seeds, low-fat dairy products, and lean meats. These foods contain large quantities of fiber and they are low in cholesterol, saturated fat, and sodium.

How to reduce cholesterol

An increase in cholesterol leads to heart diseases which can lead to premature death. Indeed, a person’s genetics have a role to play here. However, excessive weight, type 2 diabetes, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol intake further contributes to high cholesterol.

Researchers say that you should reduce the consumption of saturated fat as much as possible. You should consider replacing it with polyunsaturated fat.

Reducing the risk of diabetes

Diabetes can lead to heart diseases but lifestyle changes can prove to be of help. If you have pre-diabetes, then you should try to lose at least 7% of your body weight. You should engage in 150 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activities every week. Studies declared that it is enough to reduce the risk of contracting diabetes.

How much exercise to do

As already mentioned, people between the age group of 18-64 should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercises per week. If you belong to this age group, then you should also do 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic workouts every week.

The negative effects of smoking

Undoubtedly, smokers remain at a high risk of heart diseases than non-smokers. If you smoke more than others, then you are at higher risk than them.