Lifestyle and Home Remedies to Improve and Prevent Heart Disease

Heart disease increases the risk for life-threatening cardiac emergencies like a cardiac arrest or heart attack. Ensure good health of your ticker by keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check. High blood pressure and high cholesterol are the biggest heart disease risk factors. Tests to diagnose heart/cardiovascular disease depend on the condition that your doctor thinks you might have. A doctor will likely perform a physical exam and ask about your personal and family medical history before performing any tests. Apart from blood tests and a chest X-ray, tests to diagnose heart disease include Electrocardiogram (ECG), Echocardiogram, Holter Monitoring, Stress Test, Cardiac Catheterization, Cardiac computerized tomography (CT) scan and Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Treatment:

Cardiovascular disease treatments vary by condition. For example, individuals with heart infection are likely to be given antibiotics. Treatment usually includes lifestyle changes, medications, medical procedures or surgery.

Home Remedies to Improve/Prevent Heart Disease:

By adopting certain lifestyle changes, cardiovascular disease can be improved or even prevented. The following changes can help you improve the health of your ticker:

Quit Smoking- Smoking is a major heart disease risk factor, especially atherosclerosis. You can significantly lower your heart disease risk and its complications by quitting smoking.

Manage Blood Pressure- Every two years should you be asking your doctor for a blood pressure measurement who may recommend more frequent measurements if your BP is higher than normal or you have a history of cardiovascular disease. The optimal blood pressure is less than 120 systolic and 80 diastolic, as measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).

Manage Cholesterol- When you are in your twenties, ask your healthcare provider for a baseline cholesterol test, which should then be conducted every 5 years. Your doctor may recommend more frequent measurements if your test results aren’t within desirable ranges. Start testing early if high cholesterol runs in your family. Aim for an LDL level below 130 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), or 3.4 millimoles per liter (mmol/L); aim for an LDL below 100 mg/dL (2.6 mmol/L) if you have other risk factors of cardiovascular disease.

Physical Activity- Exercise not only helps achieve and maintain a healthy weight but also controls diabetes, elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure. Talk to your doctor prior to starting with an exercise routine as there may be some restrictions on the activities you can do if you have a heart arrhythmia or ticker defect. You should aim for 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week with your doctor’s approval.

Eat Healthy- Control your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol by eating a heart-healthy diet based on fruits, vegetables and whole grains — and low in saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and added sugar.

Keep your diabetes under control, manage stress, deal efficiently with depression and practice good hygiene. Experts recommend getting regular health check-ups as early detection and treatment can set the stage for a lifetime of better ticker health.

It can be frustrating, upsetting or overwhelming upon learning you or your beloved has cardiovascular disease. The good thing is there are ways to cope with it or improve your condition which include cardiac rehabilitation(it can improve treatment and speed recovery for individuals who’ve cardiovascular disease that's caused a heart attack or has required surgery to correct), support groups and continued medical checkups.

Efficiently handle cardiac arrest victims in out-of-hospital cases by getting CPR trained today. Join a program at CPR Columbus and gain the benefits. Call on 614-321-2094 to register for a CPR course.