Five More Ways To Protect Your Heart

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

Don't stop at just five changes to protect yourself from heart disease. Here are some more things you can do to help lower your risk of heart disease.

1. Watch your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides. Keep a copy of your blood work from annual check ups. LDL cholesterol should be under 100 mg/dL; HDL cholesterol should be 50 or above. Blood pressure should be 120/80 or lower. Fasting blood sugar should be 100 mg/dL or lower. Triglycerides should be under 150 mg/dL.
2. Stay active! Physical activity can reduce every controllable risk factor for heart disease. Just ten minutes of cardio most days of the week can cut a sedentary person's heart attack risk in half. Add interval training and see your heart disease risk drop by twenty percent in just two weeks.
3. Keep your teeth healthy. Doctors from Columbia University have found that people who have lots of gum disease-causing bacteria are more likely to have plaque clogging their arteries. Brush and floss and get regular check ups -- gum disease can raise your risk of heart disease.
4. Try a Mediterranean diet that includes olive oil, leafy greens, whole grains, nuts, fruit, fish, tomatoes, and red wine. These foods have a healthy blend of good fats, antioxidants and other good stuff that can help protect your heart.
5. Get the right tests. A C-reactive protein (CRP) test can measure inflammation in your artery walls. A high sensitivity test can help rule out other possible causes of inflammation, like arthritis, infection, and injury. A baseline heart scan can measure coronary artery calcium -- a number that relates to the total amount of plaque in your arteries. A detailed 64 slice CT scan can pick out soft plaque, which is full of cholesterol and more likely to rupture and lead to a heart attack.

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Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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