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Habits that are good for the heartFrom love to sleep to hawthorn – 10 things that can strengthen your heart in everyday life
Our heart is a real powerhouse.
It works around the clock, day after day, for a lifetime. Reason enough to pay a little more attention to it in everyday life, right? Because many things we do every day – from exercise to diet to sleep and stress – have a direct impact on our heart health. The good news: The heart can be noticeably strengthened with small, feasible changes in a wide variety of areas. You can read about what these could be here.
1. “Exercise is the most effective 'medicine' for the heart”
“The heart is not an isolated organ. It reacts to everything we do, think and feel. If you want to protect your heart, you have to keep an eye on several areas,” emphasizes doctor and medical journalist Dr. Specht in conversation with RTL.
Dr. Christoph Specht: “A healthy heart doesn’t need extremes, but consistency”
RTL
An important area: movement. According to Dr. Specht “the most effective 'medication' for the heart”, whereby regularity always takes precedence over intensity. In other words: it's better to eat moderately on a regular basis than rarely to extremes.
“Brisk walking, cycling or swimming every day improves blood circulation, lowers blood pressure and relieves the strain on the heart”said Dr. Woodpecker. A walk during your lunch break, a short bike ride to the supermarket or taking the stairs instead of the elevator – every little step counts.
2. Dealing with stress
We have to be honest: avoid stress completely? This is almost impossible. Because life is always associated with stress – in various forms. According to Dr. Woodpecker therefore deals with stress: “Continuous stress increases your heart rate and high blood pressure. Relaxation techniques, walks or simply conscious breaks act like a protective shield.”
Reading tip: For more peace in everyday life – these tricks relax you immediately
But the next point can also help to reduce stress.
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3. What makes the heart beat faster – in a positive sense
They sound like soft factors and are difficult to measure, “but they have been proven thousands of times,” says Dr. Specht about the next category. What are we talking about? Love, social bonds and humor. “They lower stress hormones, stabilize circulation and strengthen the immune system.” This also includes purely platonic relationships with friends, family and pets.
4. Smoking is poison for the heart
“There are so many ways that our organs can become damaged over the course of our lives. And without us being to blame for it. We really shouldn't contribute to it ourselves, for example by smoking.”explains Dr. Woodpecker. Because it narrows the vessels, promotes deposits and significantly increases the risk of a heart attack. “And that’s just the damage to the cardiovascular system.”
5. Excessive alcohol consumption should be avoided
Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to cardiac arrhythmias. (Illustration)
Finn Winkler/dpa
Then there is the alcohol. In this regard, Dr. Woodpecker: “For many people, an occasional drink is not a problem for the heart.” But regular or high consumption damages the heart muscle.
6. What pleases the heart
The heart can also be strengthened in certain ways in the kitchen. Especially if you handle certain foods carefully. When it comes to fats, for example, the following applies: quality over quantity. Instead of heavily processed fats, you should rely on vegetable oils. Reducing carbohydrates and sugar also helps, because: “Excess weight damages the heart,” says Dr. Woodpecker. What the heart loves on the other hand:
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vegetables, fruits
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Whole grain products
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legumes
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Fish
“This shows that what you eat should be as natural as possible instead of industrially processed.”
7. With this spice, less is often more
What would a meal be without salt? But be careful: too much salt can increase blood pressure. Don't worry, you don't have to do without it when cooking. Because we don't get most of the salt from the salt shaker, but rather from processed foods. “Virtually everything that is packaged also contains Salt – sometimes in significant quantities. Every ready-made pizza, every ready-made meal, almost every sauce. “Sausages, snacks – there’s a lot of salt in everything,” says Dr. Specht. Which brings us back to the previously mentioned point: In order to reduce salt, it helps to reduce the number of industrially processed dishes.
8. Hawthorn – a classic medicinal plant for the heart
There are also a number of herbal remedies that can be good for the heart. An example from this category: the hawthorn. It can improve blood flow to the heart muscle, gently support cardiac performance and is therefore often used for mild heart failure.
An important note from Dr. Woodpecker: Medicinal plants should not be used as a substitute for prescription medications. Furthermore, they are not considered a replacement or alternative for a healthy lifestyle – because this is the top priority for our heart health.
9. Often underestimated: healthy sleep
Talking about a healthy lifestyle. We can do something good for our hearts even in the middle of the night – with enough sleep. According to Dr. Woodpecker seven to eight hours. Anyone who regularly gets significantly less sleep puts strain on their heart. Because it reacts to it in a similar way to stress.
The doctor's tips: “Introduce sleep rituals, no media use in bed, only very dim light in the evening, more orientation to the natural day and night rhythm, relaxation techniques, lots of daylight in the morning in the hours before 10 a.m..”
10. Hobbies for the heart
You can also strengthen your heart in your free time – almost on the side. Sporty leisure activities such as swimming, dancing or hiking increase the heart rate in a healthy way and can thus strengthen the heart muscle. But it doesn't always have to be sporty. Because so-called “slow hobbies” also help the heart – namely when it comes to reducing stress. Painting, playing music or knitting can calm you down and lower your blood pressure. And singing is also healthy, as researchers from the Swedish University of Gothenburg discovered. It gets the circulation going and increases breathing – a positive effect for the cardiovascular system.
Sources used: own RTL research, German Heart Foundation, Freiburg University Hospital, AOK health magazine
