Tips for a Healthy HeartTuesday, February 14, 2017 At SOS Survival Products, we love preparedness. We believe that being prepared for an emergency or disaster will provide you with the best chance of survival, and know that raising awareness is the first step. Today, we'll talk about the leading causes of death for men and women in the United States: heart disease. Heart diseases causes over 600,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. Since it is also one of the most preventable diseases, many consider this an alarming statistic. There are many contributing factors, and it's important to know them. So let's get to the heart of it. 1 Heart disease is a disorder affecting the blood vessels in and around the heart. When blood flow is compromised, arrhythmias leading to heart attacks can occur. There are a variety of reasons heart disease can present itself. We'll discuss these below. High Blood Pressure
Blood pressure refers to the pressure your blood exerts on the inside of your arteries. You don't have to be a medical expert to understand that high blood pressure can be a risk factor for health. Blood pressure can fluctuate normally on a temporary basis, but when a person suffers from high blood pressure on a continual basis, he or she is at an increased risk for a heart attack.
Diabetes
Insulin resistance is the most common form of type 2 diabetes. In healthy individuals, the pancreas produces insulin in response to sugar and carbohydrate intake, resulting in your body’s production of usable energy.
In individuals with insulin resistance, normal amounts of insulin no longer result in this energy creation. To combat this, the body produces more insulin to keep up. But eventually, insulin resistance becomes so severe that the pancreas can no longer accommodate your body's need for insulin. This causes blood glucose levels to increase, eventually leading to diabetes. 7
Diabetes type 2 is 100 percent preventable. The major contributors to insulin resistance are excess weight, specifically around the waist, and physical inactivity. People with diabetes can develop vision loss, kidney failure, nerve damage, heart disease and stroke. A healthy diet, regular exercise and regular diabetes screenings are all preventative measures for diabetes and heart disease. 8
DietYou've heard it time and time again: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Even long before science could understand why, we seemed to inherently understand the value of fresh fruits and vegetables. Over the last decade, countless medical articles have been published with the findings that eating fresh fruits and veggies daily show significant promise in lowering the risks of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death. 9 If that isn't enough of an incentive to incorporate some greens into your life, a brand-new study published in PLOS One in February 2017 found that "young adults who were given extra fruits and vegetables each day for 14 days experienced a boost in motivation and vitality." The findings confirm that just two cups of fruit (roughly an orange) and three cups of vegetables (three carrots, a bell pepper and a small tomato - the perfect addition to any salad) will do the trick! 10
1. www.CDC.govbr |
We most commonly think of high blood pressure in terms of stress, but there are many other ways a person can develop high blood pressure.
Take a moment to familiarize yourself with some of the most common reasons. Are you at risk?
