Mend Your Heart Before It Bends You
How It All Happens
It is at this stage that calcium gets accumulated to a critical degree. As it accrues, it forms a rock-solid deposit. Called calcification, they can often be seen on an X-ray.
You would be astounded to run through the list of problems caused by coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis is not the only disease caused, though it is the foremost. Plaque has the most detrimental effect on the heart, all right, but it can also cause angina pectoris, or chest pain originating in the heart, eventually leading to death.
Diabetes is another disease. The disease often worsens when blood flow to the pancreas is inadequate.
A reduced blood supply can also lead to decreased production of digestive enzymes in the pancreas. This may lead to improper assimilation. Add to this the want of adequate blood flow to the stomach and small intestines which results in poor digestion, and you have the prospect of colon disease staring in the gut.
In addition, you have the joints, especially in the lower back, becoming inflamed and painful, thanks to reduced blood flow to the area. This leads to the development of arthritis in several parts of the body.
Other problems include impotence caused by decreased blood flow to the penis due to clogged arterioles, including cancerous tumours, and so on, due to lack of adequate blood flow.
Things You Must Do
Fortunately, for all its terrifying intentions, heart affections are often manageable conditions.
Most cases of heart disease can actually be prevented, and reversed, if not cured. The best prescription is — you have to heed to your body’s signals right from a young age. The moment you see something marginally not in agreement with what is optimal health, you need to consult your doctor.
Exercise Benefits
Begin a walking programme to start with. Walking is the safest form of cardiac exercise. It works. Just look at the statistics. Four-five months of a regular walking programme is evidenced to bring your heart rates down in comparison to people who are inactive. This is a healthy sign.
It is not without sufficient reason that The British Heart Foundation reports “that people who do not exercise are twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease as those who exercise on a regular basis.” Most important — if people who exercise suffer a heart attack, their risk of dying from it, research also testifies, is half that of those who don’t do exercise.
A right diet regimen is fundamental for good heart health. It not only helps you prevent heart disease, but also aids you to embark on the path for healthy longevity.
- Follow a dietary schedule that consists of a high intake of fibre, especially fresh fruits, vegetables, soybean, and whole grains.
- Keep yourself as far away from trans-fatty acids, fast- or junk-food, processed food, preservatives, and colourings.
- Reduce your fat intake, especially from animal fat, fried food, wafers and chips, and partly hydrogenated oils
- Use monounsaturated oils, such as olive oil, omega-3, from fish, and omega-6, from evening primrose. Make sure the oils are fresh and cold pressed. Stale oils can be lethal.
- Reduce the consumption of meat, tobacco, alcohol and sugar – they all contribute to free radical damage. For example, sugar can damage the gallbladder and interfere with proper bowel function. This can lead to reduced absorption of fat-soluble anti-oxidant nutrients like vitamin E, along with increased absorption of free radicals and also heart disease. Excess sugar leads to deficiencies in the entire B-vitamin complex needed for healthy arteries too.
- Keep your weight at a healthy level. Stop smoking, and reduce — or, better still, avoid —the consumption of salt, alcohol, and caffeine. Take 4-5 cups of boiled green tea, everyday, without sugar and milk, instead.
- Take dietary supplements of potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Also, omega-3, vitamin C and vitamin E — all under the guidance of your nutritionist.
- Take medications regularly, if advised, in the prescribed dosages.
- Get check-up done at regular intervals.
- Speak to your doctor — and, follow his/her advice thoroughly. You will be happy for it and so would be your loved ones.
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