When it comes to your heart health, advice like “eat healthier foods” and “exercise more” are great, but they’re awfully broad, leaving you to wonder where to start.
At Humble Cardiology Associates, Dr. Madaiah Revana and our team prefer to partner with patients when it comes to their heart health, and education plays a key role.
In the following, we review a few ways you may be negatively impacting your blood pressure each day and we provide some easy, actionable steps to take to reverse the problem.
Exercise is a key component to lowering your blood pressure, but the thought of hitting a gym may seem daunting if you lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle. This doesn’t mean, however, that you still can’t take some crucial steps toward better heart health (and the pun is intended here!).
For example, you arrive at the mall on the ground floor, and your destination is on the second floor. Take this opportunity to give your heart a small workout by taking the steps instead of the escalator. As well, you might try parking farther away from the entrance so you can get a little walk in before and after your shopping.
The role that stress plays in your health shouldn’t be underestimated, especially when it comes to your blood pressure. Unfortunately, stressful situations seem to lie around every corner these days, so finding ways to avoid them is key.
A great step to combat today’s stress is to limit your exposure to news and social media, which are designed to get your ire up. Instead of sitting down to watch people argue, think about going for a walk instead, which can clear your mind, regulate your heart, and reduce your stress. Or, you might try listening to some music instead of the TV.
Going a step further, try deep-breathing exercises during a quiet moment. In fact, pausing every hour throughout your day to simply sit quietly and breathe for one minute can go a long way toward finding peace of mind.
If you look at the sodium content in many of the foods you eat, you’ll likely find that you’re exceeding your daily limit by quite a bit. Try to limit your salty, processed snacks, as well as fast foods that are chock full of sodium.
A great hack for snacking is microwaving a bag of unsalted popcorn or grabbing a handful of carrots or celery instead.
And, if you automatically reach for the salt any time you sit down to eat, stop and reconsider. Why not try your food first, savoring each bite? You may find that there’s plenty of flavor already and reaching for the salt was more habit than anything else.
If you smoke, chew tobacco, or drink alcohol in moderate amounts, these two lifestyle habits have a direct influence on your cardiovascular health.
We urge you to quit smoking and using tobacco altogether and reduce the amount of alcohol you drink. We know these may seem like awfully large hurdles, but there are plenty of aids out there if you know where to look. And if you’re not sure, we’re happy to help point you in the right direction.
If you want to better control your blood pressure numbers, even simple steps can make all the difference. To learn more, contact one of our offices in Houston or Humble, Texas, to set up a consultation.
