8 Steps to Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease

You can improve your heart condition and reduce the risk factors if you follow some simple rules. The risk factors of a heart disease are most often related one to another and a change in one of them can lead to a positive impact on the others. Loosing the extra weight, for example, makes easier the effort of keeping the blood pressure in the normal limits and managing diabetes.

Eventually, in order to have a healthy heart, it worth to do everything and none of the following advice should not be perceived as a sacrifice.

1. Lower the level of cholesterol

As the level of cholesterol in blood is higher, as more the risk of heart disease increases. Follow a diet low in saturated fat to reduce cholesterol.

2. Quit smoking

Smokers are twice more likely to develop heart disease than those who do not smoke and therefore they are exposed to the risk of dying because of this habit. Smoking increases the risk of heart attack. Women who smoke and take oral contraceptives are even more exposed to develop a heart disease.

3. Keep under control the blood pressure

The high blood pressure, known as hypertension, is the main risk factor in heart disease. Nearly 50 million people suffer from this disease. There are many efficient drugs that fight against this affection.

4. Do physical exercises

People who make no kind of physical movement present a higher risk of developing a heart disease compared with those who do sports, even only a few physical exercises daily. A sedentary life is completely unhealthy. To keep your heart in a good condition you should do a minimum effort.

5. Keep diabetes under control

Diabetes is a disease that leads to several health problems, including the risk of a heart attack. Therefore, it is necessary to treat diabetes.

6. Get rid of the extra weight

The extra weight increases the risks of heart disease, contributing to a higher blood pressure and a higher level of cholesterol.

7. Reduce the consumption of alcohol

Nobody says that we shouldn't drink alcohol at all, but studies shown that women who consume more than one glass of alcohol per day and men who consume more than two glasses have a higher risk of heart disease.

8. Keep the stress under control

Everyday life is stressful and agitated, and problems may seem worse than they really are. Don't increase the daily stress by negative thoughts, because this is the sure way to heart problems. The best you can do is to fight against stress without using drugs: Go out to a walk, away from the noise of the city, in a forest or a park, do activities that you enjoy.

Sources: www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4726, www.webmd.com/heart-disease/risk-factors-heart-disease, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090304182113.htm