You may exercise every day, eating healthy and running. However, do you spend 8 hours a day sitting? Most spend hours sitting with a laptop, computer or simply television. All that sitting negatively impacts your heart health. It is irrespective of the hours you contribute towards exercising.

According to an expert and doctor, “a 45-minute exercise cannot compensate for 8 hours of sitting. One must balance both exercise and activity for a healthy heart.” You can remain active by climbing stairs, walking, standing, stretching, and moving throughout the day.

How active do you need to be each day?

The measure of activity depends on multiple factors. Here is what you should do on average to remain active every day:

• Do rigorous exercises for at least 30 minutes 3-5 times weekly.
• Move at least 5 minutes every hour
• Recording 10000 (minimum) everyday steps by walking regularly

You can use activity trackers that motivate one to walk throughout the day. It records the steps covered and the heart rate, heart health and deep sleep timings. Sleep is also crucial for a healthy heart. Sleep-deprived individuals share the risks of heart attacks.

Activities and exercises have a combined effect than just exercising or walking.

Are you at risk of developing heart disease?

Knowing your heart health helps you work for it early. If you are clueless about your heart, the following symptoms may help. If you have any of these, you stand the risk of heart disease:

• You have high cholesterol, diabetes, or high blood pressure
• You smoke often
• Are overweight
• Do not work out or exercise
• Consume unhealthy food often

If your lifestyle looks like this, you share the chances of developing heart disease.

Read ahead to improve your heart functionality and ensure a healthy body.

7 Things to do every day to ensure a healthy heart

Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death in the country like the UK.  As a citizen, you must understand the importance of keeping your heart healthy. Simple tweaks in your daily lifestyle can help keep your heart healthy and good.  Here is what you can do:

1) Stop Smoking completely

There are no ifs and buts to keep your health well-functioning. Stop smoking as an active smoker. It’s killing your lungs and heart from within. According to science, smoking damages blood vessels and other body parts. It increases the risk of heart attack by 4 times and 3 times cardiac arrest.

However, quitting smoking is difficult.  Adopting a healthy lifestyle requires time. Replace smoking with healthy chewing gums. Gradually, you will be over it.

2) Laugh your heart out

One is habitual to texting LOLs on social media. However, they are not happy in reality. Explore the possibilities of engaging in happiness by attending events, hosting a house party, or a friend’s get-together. Laughing is good for heart health.

It lowers stress hormones, reduces inflammation in your arteries, and raises your levels of high-density lipoprotein.  It is good cholesterol as it carries cholesterol through your bloodstream to your cells.

3) Ensure these food types are in your diet

Fruit and vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals that support your heart health. It is also an important part from an overall health point of view.  You must include these 5 types of food in your diet:

• Fresh
• Frozen Food
• Dried food
• Juiced
• Tinned food (in juice or water)

The portion sizes of these foods can be tricky. Thus, contact a nutritionist or dietician to know the right amount of fruits and vegetables to consume per day. It is especially important for individuals with severe heart diseases.

4) Limit unhealthy fat consumption

Limiting how much-saturated fats and trans fats you eat is a critical step to dropping blood cholesterol levels. It also lowers the risks of coronary artery disease. Additionally, high blood pressure leads to plaque build-up in arteries. It increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

According to the popular American Heart Association, “you should consume only 6% of saturated fat daily.” It’s about consuming 1500 calories daily.  Avoid consuming trans-fat in any proposition.

Other ways to cut on simple ways to cut back on saturated fats and trans fats:

• Trim fat off meat or choose lean meats with less than 10% fat.
• Reduce fat by consuming less butter
• Use low-fat substitutes when possible heart-healthy diet.

Check the food labels for cookies, cakes, frosting, crackers, and chips. Pick the one with no trans-fat and low saturated fats. Prefer food with ingredients like- olive oil, canola oil, nuts, seeds, Avocados, Cholesterol-lowering margarine, nuts, seeds, vegetable and nut oils.

You can also add flax seeds to your diet for omega-3 fatty acids. These help you lower unhealthy cholesterol levels. You can grind flax seeds and add it to the yoghurt or cereal.

5) Ensure enough sleep daily

As mentioned above, ensuring good sleep is critical for a healthy mind and body. If you don’t sleep enough, you may be at risk of developing heart disease.

According to a survey of 3000 people of age above 45 years, “individuals sleeping fewer than 6 hours per night were about twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack like those who sleep six to eight years.” Thus, ensure at least 8 hours of sleep every day. Make a sleeping routine and stick to it.

6)  Manage alcohol intake

Drinking profusely is not ideal in any condition. It impacts the liver, kidneys, and heart and increases blood pressure. Chronic drinking enlarges your heart leading to heart failure. Life is too short not to have a glass of wine but intoxicating may impact health.

Thus, the key to limiting drinking is- drinking in moderation. The recommended dose for adults is around 14 units per week. So, depending on the alcohol percentage, you can have around 6 glasses of wine per week. However, go at least a week without consuming alcohol. It will help you limit the consumption. It is because the aim is- to limit and stop drinking altogether.

7) Stop stressing frequently

Stress is the primary cause of high blood pressure that impacts the heart. A sedentary lifestyle, anxiety, laziness, and personal and professional issues accumulate into stress. If it becomes a constant thing, it impacts your heart the most.

So, reduce stress and keep it in check by switching it with calmness. Introduce meditations, breathing exercises and concentration exercises in your lifestyle. It will help you control anxiety and reduce its impact on the heart.

Sometimes, life situations increase stress and anxiety. For example, if you are unemployed and encounter urgent financial need, stress rises. One panics at the moment because of financial issues. However, you do not need to panic.

Check and get instant finance with loans for people on benefits from a direct lender near you. It is the best way to get quick money for emergencies and counter emergencies. It is for unemployed people leveraging government benefits.

Bottom line

Do your heart a favour by following these tips.  It will help you keep your heart healthy and fit for the rest of your life. Analyse your sedentary lifestyle and try to replace it with healthy habits.  Contact a cardiologist, dietician or nutritionist to optimise your diet plan periodically. It is important to change your lifestyle.