Focusing on improving and maintaining cardiovascular health can help you enjoy a longer, healthier life. Better cardiovascular health is associated with a lower risk of heart diseases, including heart attack, stroke, cancer, dementia, and other major health issues in today’s world.
Eight essential principles for living a healthy life developed by the American Heart Association (AHA) outline a few simple steps you can take to live longer and healthier:
Pay attention to what you eat: Strive for a generally healthy diet that includes unprocessed products, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole protein, nuts, and seeds. Importantly, foods should be prepared using unsaturated oils, so it’s best to use olive oil for cooking.
Be more active: Adults should allocate 150 minutes for moderate or 75 minutes for intense physical activity each week. Walking is an excellent form of such activity. Children should be active for 60 minutes daily, including playtime and organized activities.
Do not use nicotine-containing products: Using nicotine products, including traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and vaporizers, is a major cause of death, including about one-third of all deaths from heart disease.
Take care of healthy sleep: Good sleep every night is crucial for cardiovascular health. Adults should aim for an average of 7-9 hours of sleep; depending on age, children and infants need more. Too little or too much sleep is associated with the risk of developing heart disease.
Control weight: Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight has many benefits. A proper parameter is the Body Mass Index (BMI), a numerical value of your weight in relation to height. The optimal BMI for most adults ranges from 18.5 to below 25. You can calculate your BMI using online calculators or consult a health professional.
Control cholesterol levels: High non-HDL cholesterol levels, which include all fractions of “bad” cholesterol, can lead to atherosclerosis-based diseases, including coronary artery disease, heart attack, and stroke. Increasingly, scientific societies consider non-HDL cholesterol (the difference between total and HDL cholesterol) as a therapeutic target and base your heart disease risk on its value. Importantly, its levels can be measured without prior fasting.
Control blood sugar levels: Most food we eat turns into glucose (or blood sugar), which our body uses for energy. Over time, high blood sugar levels can damage your heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. In routine checks, monitoring hemoglobin A1c can better reflect long-term control in people with diabetes or prediabetes.
Control blood pressure: Keeping blood pressure within acceptable ranges can help you live healthier for longer. Optimal levels are below 120/80 mm Hg. High blood pressure is defined as 130-139 mm Hg systolic (the upper number in the reading) or 80-89 mm Hg diastolic pressure.
Based on: https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/lifes-essential-8/lifes-essential-8-fact-sheet