Keep Moving
Have you ever wondered what your heart is doing while you’re sitting down? Studies suggest that while sitting, your heart is functioning like it’s on cruise control. Your heart beats roughly around 60-100 times a minute.
You shouldn’t assume that sitting is helping your heart get rest. In fact, sitting forces your heart to work harder to pump the blood back up from your feet. This causes your blood pressure to increase. Staying seated for too long can cause severe problems over an extended period of time. This can include stiffening of the artery walls, which can limit blood flow to your heart.
How to Help Your Heart
If you work at a desk job or spend a lot of time during the day sitting, don’t worry, you don’t need to change your entire routine. It’s okay to be seated for six to eight hours a day, just not all at once.
Try to get up and move at least once an hour, whether you walk around the room or do some stretches. If that’s not an option, studies suggest fidgeting or flexing your calves while seated can give your heart a leg up.
Are You Angry, Annoyed, Or Just Stressed Out?
Did you know that road rage or a fight with your partner can trigger your body to release chemicals? These chemicals include adrenaline and cortisol. Studies suggest that these chemicals drive up both your heart rate and blood pressure.
Your stress response also puts a squeeze on your heart via inflammation. Inflammation can constrict the arteries at the exact time your system wants more oxygen-rich blood. This elevates your blood pressure. This can cause plaques in your arteries to become unstable or rupture, resulting in a heart attack.
How to Help Your Heart
Try some stress-reduction tactics. These tactics include meditation, deep breathing, yoga, walking, and talking with understanding friends.
Stay Active
Exercise is always good for your heart. A large amount of blood going in and out of the heart is what causes the muscle to stretch and develop tiny tears. How it repairs itself and gets stronger depends upon the workouts you do. If you are into a sport like distance running, the heart has to move larger quantities of blood to keep up with the demand of your legs. The heart dilates to accommodate the added workload. This is why endurance-focused athletes have big hearts with thin walls.
If you are into strength sports like powerlifting, the heart doesn’t have to pump too much more blood. It does have to withstand huge surges in blood pressure for short periods of time, though. Exercising decreases your blood pressure and can lower your heart rate for the rest of the day. In fact, studies suggest that people who are physically active have a 20 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than people who don’t exercise at all. It’s worthwhile to try to spend 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise throughout your week.
How to Help Your Heart
Have you heard of the Mediterranean diet pattern? It’s a great diet option to contribute to a healthy heart. Fill up on fruits and vegetables, complex carbs, and whole grains. Also, eat healthy fats (like those in salmon, nuts, and olive oil). If you drink wine, just make sure it’s in moderation.
Whenever you have a health question you need to be answered or a problem that needs to be treated, Dr. Grimes has got you covered. Become a member of our wellness platform to adopt healthy changes and improve your quality of life today!