February is American Heart Month, so we wanted to take the time to talk about an incredibly important issue: heart disease. Here are some ways that you can take a stand against heart disease and live a healthier life.
Taking care of your heart is crucial for overall health. As the leading cause of death among Americans, heart disease is definitely something to be taken seriously. While your doctor will give you the best, more personal advice on what you should do to support your heart health (be sure to stay on top of your appointments!), we want to go over a few of the key things you can do to help lower your risk of heart disease.
How You Can Take a Stand Against Heart Disease
Stay Active
Regular exercise is known for greatly lowering your risk of heart disease. It also minimizes your risk of developing high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other conditions, and also helps you control your weight.
Mayo Clinic recommends that you aim for at least 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity everyday. Do you find it difficult to commit to working out daily? Consider having a few different go-to forms of exercise in order to mix things up and keep your routine exciting. Be sure you have some options for both aerobic workouts and strength training.
Need some inspiration? Check out our guide to our community’s favorite forms of at-home workouts. We also have a post on creating a workout routine that works for you!
Of course, there are going to be days when life gets too busy, or you just can’t find the motivation or energy to commit to a 30 minute workout. When that happens, don’t give up! Even 5 or 10 minutes of physical activity is beneficial. Take a quick walk around the block, do a few pushups, or do a short yoga flow to get some movement in.
Eat Heart-Healthy Foods
One of the key ways you can take a stand against heart disease is eating healthy meals and snacks that support your heart health. The FDA recommends eating fruits and vegetables with each meal, eating more whole grains, choosing lean meat cuts, and restricting foods high in saturated fat and added sugars.
Cleveland Clinic also points to the Mediterranean diet – which is packed with vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats – as being one of the best for heart health. A 2018 study found that eating a Mediterranean diet helps improve cholesterol and blood pressure while also minimizing your stroke and heart attack risk.
For some extra preventative power, consider working some superfoods into your diet that are known to help prevent heart disease and other health conditions, such as green tea, matcha, leafy greens, wheatgrass, berries, and turmeric. Want to easily add these powerful ingredients to your diet? You’ll find plenty of superfoods that support the heart and overall health in our products, like our Superfood Tabs and Super Amazing Coffee. They make it easy to get your daily dose of superfood power!
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
If you aren’t getting enough sleep on a regular basis (typically at least 7 hours per night for adults), you have a higher risk of developing a heart disease, as well as a variety of other health conditions. In order to get the best night’s sleep, be consistent with your sleep schedule – go to bed at the same time every night, and wake up at the same time every morning.
If you find that you are having a hard time getting a restful sleep, consider trying melatonin! Melatonin supplements help naturally support your sleep cycle so that you can easily fall asleep and stay asleep through the night. Want to get a good night’s sleep? Try our Super Sleep Melatonin Gummies! These vegan berry-flavored gummies will help you peacefully wind down at night for a restful slumber.
Find Healthy Ways to Manage Stress
Stress is damaging to our health in a variety of ways. It can raise our blood pressure, and extreme levels of stress can even provoke a heart attack. With that in mind, it’s important to find ways to manage your stress levels – but you need to ensure those coping mechanisms are still healthy. Many people turn to unhealthy practices – like smoking, overeating, or drinking alcohol – in order to deal with stress. This just replaces one problem with another. Find the practices that will help you healthily manage your stress. Consider working out, meditating, stretching, journaling, talking to a friend, or going for a walk.
Limit Your Alcohol Consumption
Our final tip to help you take a stand against heart disease is to limit the amount of alcohol you consume. You can certainly enjoy an adult beverage from time to time. However, overindulging has been shown to increase your risk of heart disease and raise your blood pressure. At most, men shouldn’t have more than two drinks per day, and women shouldn’t have more than one. Obviously, less is better!
Want to use the power of superfoods to support your heart health? Try our Superfood Tabs and Super Amazing Coffee!
Want more health, wellness, and lifestyle tips? Read more at our blog!