Lifestyle measures to improve your heart health

Yahoo

18-02-2025

THIS month commemorates National Heart Month which serves to raise awareness of health conditions related to heart and circulatory disease and promote lifestyle measures to improve your cardiovascular health.
There are approximately 7.6 million people living with a heart or circulatory condition in the UK.
Coronary heart disease is the most common type and accounts for more than 170,000 deaths each year which is an average of 480 deaths each day or one every three minutes in the UK.
There are approximately 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks in the UK.
Around 1.4 million people in the UK have survived a heart attack and almost a million people have heart failure.
The main risk factors for coronary heart disease include a high cholesterol level, high blood pressure and having an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation.
Other risk factors include diabetes, being overweight or obese, having a family history of heart disease affecting first-degree relatives aged under 60 years, smoking tobacco, severe mental illness and taking anti-psychotic medications, poverty and deprivation, ethnicity with the condition being more common in black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, rheumatoid arthritis, using anabolic steroids for bodybuilding and suffering from migraines.
Common symptoms of cardiovascular disease include chest pain, feeling short of breath, lightheaded or dizzy, swollen ankles or feet and experiencing palpitations which is a conscious awareness of your heartbeat.
Other symptoms commonly associated with chest pain often found in patients with heart disease include the pain spreading to your left arm, neck or jaw, sweating, feeling nauseous and vomiting.
However, some patients with heart disease, especially those with diabetes, may have no symptoms.
Heart disease can also affect the young — each day in the UK approximately 13 babies are diagnosed with a congenital heart defect which are structural abnormalities you're born with.
Furthermore, approximately 12 people aged under 35 years die each week from sudden cardiac death which is when someone dies of a cardiac arrest due to genetic abnormalities affecting the heart muscle or electrical circuits within the heart.
There's a lot you can do to enhance your cardiovascular health.
Exercise is essential and you should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week, such as walking, cycling or swimming.
Additionally, diet plays a big role in improving heart health.
Incorporating more fruit, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins while reducing processed foods, salt, saturated fats and refined sugars lowers your risk of coronary artery disease. Drinking red wine in moderation lowers your risk of coronary artery disease and may explain the French paradox.
This is the comparatively low rate of coronary artery disease in France compared with other Western countries despite the generally high intake of saturated fat in the French diet.
Stopping smoking and learning to constructively manage stress and anger through meditation, yoga and relaxation techniques are key to lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Measuring your blood pressure at home and having your cholesterol levels checked are important in lowering your risk of heart disease.
Early detection and treatment of both of these significantly lowers your risk of a heart attack or stroke.
There are almost 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the UK.
Cardiac arrest is a condition where the heart stops beating and commonly happens at home.
There's lots you can do to help during heart month.
Learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly termed CPR, can be done in as little as 15 minutes and can save the life of someone in cardiac arrest by doubling to tripling the chances of survival until they reach hospital.
There has been massive pioneering advances in cardiovascular medicine in the last decade with new diagnostic technologies and treatments available to improve the health of your heart and circulation.
I would urge all patients concerned about their cardiovascular health to consult their GP.
Our columnist Dr Jason Seewoodhary is a former Worcestershire GP.