{"id":280349,"date":"2022-07-13T02:26:24","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T20:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nagalandpost.com\/?p=280349"},"modified":"2022-07-13T02:26:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T20:56:25","slug":"tips-to-care-for-your-heart-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/2022\/07\/13\/tips-to-care-for-your-heart-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips to Care for Your Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Your heart relies on several factors to remain healthy, from what you eat to how you process stress.
Healthy eating and exercise probably come to mind right away, but there are other things you should also do to help keep your heart in top shape. A key is to get some key numbers — and then take action.
Start with these key steps.
These are blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. You want all of them to be in a heart-healthy range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Blood pressure:
    Normal: 120\/80 or below
    Prehypertension: 120 to 139 (the first number) and\/or 80 to 89 (the second number)
    Hypertension: more than 140\/90<\/li>
  2. Cholesterol: Too much of the \u201cbad\u201d kind or not enough of the \u201cgood\u201d type raises your heart risk. Healthy cholesterol levels depend on your age and gender. Desirable levels for adults are:
    Total cholesterol: under 200 mg\/dL
    LDL (\u201cbad\u201d): less than 100 mg\/dL
    HDL (\u201cgood\u201d): 60 mg\/dL or higher
    Triglycerides: under 150 mg\/dL
    If your levels are higher than that, you\u2019ll want to talk with your doctor about whether it would help to change what you eat, add more exercise, and possibly also take medication.<\/li>
  3. Blood sugar: A fasting blood sugar test, which is done after you don\u2019t eat or drink anything but water for at least 12 hours, is most commonly used to diagnose type 2 diabetes. If you do have type 2 diabetes, it raises your risk for heart disease.
    A normal fasting blood sugar level is 100 mg\/dLor less.
    Prediabetes is a fasting blood sugar of 101 to 125 mg\/dL.
    A fasting blood sugar of 126 mg\/dLor greater indicates diabetes.
    Think Beyond Your Weight
    It\u2019s true that people who are overweight or obese are more likely to get certain conditions, including heart disease, than other people. But the numbers on the scale don\u2019t always tell the whole story.
    For instance, where your extra pounds are matters. Belly fat is thought to be particularly risky. So your waist circumference is a good thing to check — and it\u2019s simple. All you need is a tape measure. Men with a waist that measures 40 inches or more, and women with a waist of 35 inches or more, are more likely to get heart disease and type 2 diabetes than those with smaller waists. Plus, your weight doesn\u2019t say how much of your body is muscle. So athletes may seem like they\u2019re overweight but have a lot of muscle.
    But if you\u2019re overweight, chances are, you\u2019ve heard this all before — and maybe ended up feeling worse for it. For many people, dieting is a frustrating cycle, instead of bringing positive, lasting change. Too often, it gets wrapped up in ideas about willpower or about being \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad.\u201d And anything that leaves you feeling ashamed or less-than is definitely not healthy.
    So don\u2019t obsess about the number on the scale. A better starting point may be to check in with your doctor about your health in general, not just your size or shape — and the best steps to improve it, whether it\u2019s working on fitness, adding more vegetables, cutting back on sugar, or managing a health condition you didn\u2019t know you had. If weight loss ends up being one of the goals you choose, you may not need to lose as much as you think for health benefits.
    Move More
    Experts recommend getting at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (like a brisk walk) 5 or more days per week. (It\u2019s fine to work up to that gradually, if you\u2019re not active now.) But this tip isn\u2019t just about working out. It\u2019s about making your whole day more active, cutting way back on the time you spend sitting down.
    Even if you exercise, and then spend the rest of your day sitting down, you\u2019re missing out. So make sure you break up long periods of sitting. Walk to pour yourself a glass of water, talk with a co-worker, do a simple chore, take a quick stretch — just keep moving throughout your day.
    Address Your Stress
    Some stress is a good challenge. But if you\u2019re under too much stress for a long time, it can affect your body. Exactly how it affects your heart can vary. Maybe you drink more, smoke, or eat more unhealthy foods when you\u2019re stressed. Or it\u2019s harder to get time to exercise or sleep well. Over time, that all adds up.
    You want to take the edge off, in a healthy way. Taking time to relax, socialize, and do something fun is good medicine. So is therapy, if there are issues that get to you and won\u2019t let go.
    Don\u2019t Smoke
    Tobacco smoke is bad for your heart, along with the rest of your body. It raises your blood pressure and can make blood clots more likely — and some clots can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Ask your doctor for help with quitting. Also, avoid other people\u2019s smoke.
    Medically Reviewed by Dany Paul Baby, MD<\/em><\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Your heart relies on several factors to remain healthy, from what you eat to how you process stress.Healthy eating and exercise probably come to mind right away, but there are other things you should also do to help keep your heart in top shape. A key is to get some key numbers — and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":280372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-infotainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}