10 Ways To Keep Your Heart Healthy

We often get tired after working for long hours but there is one organ in our body that works tirelessly to make us alive and that is heart. To live long we must keep our heart healthy. In today’s busy life people don’t have time to take care of health. As a result of which people are suffering from many lifestyle related diseases. One among them is heart attack. Earlier older people used to suffer from this disease but now this disease is found in young people also. It’s important to keep blood pressure and cholesterol under control to keep one’s heart healthy and working. By bringing few changes in our lifestyle we can keep our heart healthy. Here are few tips one can follow to take care of heart.

Green tea:  It is rich in antioxidants which makes arteries healthier.  It improves blood flow, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. It prevents formation of clots which causes blockage of heart leading to heart attack.

Olive oil: It’s an excellent source of monosaturated fats which are good for heart. Regular intake of this oil as part of diet helps in lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) in the body. Substitute olive oil for vegetable cooking oil.

Blueberry: It is low in fat,  a good source of vitamin c and high in fiber. Anthocyanin present in blueberry helps to widen arteries, allowing blood to flow smoothly and thus reducing the possibility of a heart stroke.

Fibrous food: In daily food include food rich in fiber as it helps in improving blood cholesterol level. Include more green leafy vegetables and salads. Fibrous food includes whole wheat , bran, fresh and dried fruits, vegetables.

Nuts: Nuts like almonds, pistachios, walnuts are good for heart. These nuts lower your LDL cholesterol, or bad cholesterol and blood pressure.

Citrus fruits: Fruits like oranges, grapefruit, lemons and limes are rich sources of flavonoids. The flavonoid in these fruits boosts “good” HDL cholesterol and lowers “bad” LDL cholesterol.

Pomegranate: Rich in many antioxidants including one called polyphenols that keep arteries free of fat. Regular intake of pomegranate juice helps in improving blood flow to heart and thus reducing risk of heart attack.

Garlic:  It gives great flavor to many dishes, but it also has medicinal value. It lowers blood pressure and blood sugar. It decreases LDL cholesterol.

Enough sleep: Sleep is essential for our heart. People who don't sleep enough are at higher risk for heart diseases. Less sleep reduces body ability to release stress hormones and leads to high blood pressure.

Exercise regularly:  Nowadays our lifestyle is such that we need to spend most of our time in office. We need to sit for long hours for work. This is not good for heart. We need to take out at least half an hour for exercise. This helps in reducing risk of heart attack.

Be stress free: Stress is very bad for heart health. When we are stressed our body releases a hormone called adrenaline which speeds up breathing and heart rate and thus increases blood pressure which can lead to stroke. To get rid of stress we can take help of yoga.