Protect your heart
Half of all 40-year-old men will develop heart disease sometime during the rest of their life. You should start thinking now about what you can do to protect your heart, and the rest of your body, for a long and healthy life.High blood pressure
Having high blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. Men should eat no more than 6g of salt a day.It's possible to develop high blood pressure at any age, but as you get older your blood pressure tends to rise.
Reducing your blood pressure reduces the risk of developing heart disease, even if your blood pressure is already within the normal range.
What can I do to protect my heart?
A healthy heart is vital for a healthy body. You can help protect your heart by doing these things:- eat plenty of fruit and veg
- eat plenty of fibre
- cut down on salt
- cut down on fat, especially saturated fat
- eat oily fish
- try to be a healthy weight
- be more active
- don’t drink too much alcohol
- give up smoking
Try to be a healthy weight
Being a healthy weight is an important part of protecting your health. So it's not good for you to be overweight or underweight. It's easy for weight to creep on, or drop off, without you really noticing. So it's a good idea to check if your weight is within the healthy range.Remember, whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, or just stay the same, it's very important to eat regularly and eat a variety of types of food.
If you're worried about your weight, ask your GP or a dietitian for advice.
Be more active
As well as protecting your heart, being active is a great way of using up extra calories, and will help you control your weight.But this doesn't mean you have to join a gym – just try to get active every day and build up the amount you do. Even small changes can help, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking to the shops instead of driving, or getting off the bus one stop earlier.
Walking is a great way to be more active – fit in as much as you can into your daily routine and try to walk at a good pace. Or make time for another type of activity you really enjoy, for example cycling.
Don’t drink too much and give up smoking
Men can drink three to four units of alcohol a day (two to three units a day for women) without significant risk to their health. A unit is half a pint of standard strength (three to five per cent ABV) beer, lager or cider, or a pub measure of spirit. A glass of wine is about two units.Drinking too much alcohol can increase your weight, particularly around the abdominal area, as well as leading to other long-term health problems such as stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and liver disease. It can also affect mental health.
To help you cut down, you could try drinking lower-strength drinks, drinking half pints instead of pints or alternating alcoholic with non-alcoholic drinks.
Smoking increases your chance of developing heart disease and many other illnesses, so giving up is a good way to help reduce the risk.
Make gradual changes
Smoking:
Remember that you don't have to make big changes overnight. It's much more effective to make changes that you will be able to stick to in the long term. So try adapting your diet and lifestyle gradually.
For example, you could:
- start the day with a healthy breakfast – choose a high-fibre cereal that is low in salt and sugars
- try to fit in one more portion of fruit a day
- start going for a brisk walk at lunchtime
- get off the bus one stop earlier
- switch to wholegrain bread instead of white
- choose lower-fat dairy products
- swap high-fat foods such as pies and sausages for lean meat or fish
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