How to maintain heart health, whatever your circumstances.
It’s simple to grab for your go-to comfort food, or skip a workout when you’re feeling bad. Even when you’re not feeling well, it’s crucial to consider your heart health.
People are less likely to make good lifestyle decisions when stressed, anxious, or depressed because they may feel overwhelmed. They might smoke more, engage in less physical activity,
Too little or too much sleep, excessive alcohol consumption, and non-compliance with medication instructions. These unhealthy habits can eventually raise your risk of developing heart disease.
Trauma, sadness, anxiety, and stress can produce changes that can impact your health, not just because you could adopt unhealthy habits. According to research, physical physiology is affected by mental wellness.
Over 7% of Americans over 18 have been found to have depression, reaching 20% of people who have recently experienced a heart attack.
Can depression cause a heart attack or heart disease?
Your heart rate and blood pressure increase, your blood flow to the heart are reduced, and your body creates more cortisol, a stress hormone, when you are depressed, anxious, or stressed. Heart disease may eventually result from these impacts. Following cardiac events, including heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure, depression and anxiety can also arise.
What can I do to combat my anxiety, despair, or stress?
Three crucial actions can be taken to help if you’re experiencing sadness, stress, or anxiety.
Find the root of your stress, anxiety, or despair, then deal with it.
When required, seek treatment.
Sometimes you might feel depressed for a few days, but if it persists for more than two weeks, you should probably get help. It is a problem when depression results in depressive symptoms and a loss of interest in previously loved activities. It can impair your ability to perform at work and home and cause several mental and physical issues.
Pick healthy habits and take your time.
Start slowly if you don’t currently exercise often.
Your heart can benefit from something as basic as walking for 30 minutes daily, even if you only manage 10 minutes at a time. While physical activity boosts your mood while doing it, it can also enhance your mental health, reduce your chances of depression, and enhance your general quality of life.
If picking unhealthy foods has become a habit, experiment with better cooking methods or ingredient swaps to reduce calories, fat, added sugar, sodium, and fat. Pick nutritious snacks like raw veggies and fruits, order salads that haven’t been prepared and other low-fat meals when dining out.
Add more healthy lifestyle modifications one at a time.
Avoid attempting to “address” every issue at once. This is especially true if quitting smoking is one of your bad habits.
Smoking cessation can be challenging. If you smoke, speak with a health care provider to see if you need to stop taking drugs or other aid. The use of prescription drugs or nicotine replacement therapies is possible. You might also request a recommendation for a programme to help you stop smoking.
