6 Simple Habit Changes for a Healthier Heart

Heart disease is still one of the leading causes of death in the world and is the cause of a quarter of all deaths in the UK. The British Heart Foundation? estimates that 2.3 million people are living with coronary heart disease in the UK - around 1.5 million men and 830,000 women.

Heart Health - The Risk Factors

Risk factors are things that can raise your risk of developing heart conditions. The more risk factors you have, the more likely you are to develop heart and circulatory diseases like a heart attack or stroke. Risk factors include conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, inactivity, smoking and carrying extra weight, particularly around your middle.

It is never too early to be kind to your heart! You can protect your heart health with habit upgrades.

The good thing is that we can reduce our risk factors with healthy lifestyle choices. Upgrading habits to healthier ones and making small changes to our daily routines can make a big difference to our heart health. These include regular physical activity, a healthy diet, quality sleep, not smoking, managing stress levels and following medical advice if required. Unfortunately, there are some factors that are out of our control such as family history (genetics), age and sex (men have a higher risk of heart disease).

6 Habit Upgrades and How They Can Help

First of all, let’s look at what the word habit means! A habit is something you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing you are doing it! In other words, our habits become a way of life and are ones that we do automatically. So it makes sense to have habits that are good for us, not the other way around! Taking action to form new habits (or habit upgrades) will result in progress and transformation.

Here are 6 habit upgrades that will help protect your heart health and put you on a journey to achieve optimal wellbeing. You may find your new habits ‘stick’ much quicker than you think!

1. Drink water first thing: Replace your first drink of the day with a glass of water, or you could try a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon. This daily ‘internal shower’ will hydrate your cells, energise your mind, support detoxification, and remind you that prioritising yourself is the most selfless thing you can do!
2. Regular Moderate Exercise: Frequent exercise is particularly good for our cardiovascular health and is associated with a decrease in cardiovascular mortality and the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Begin with small, achievable goals – progress over perfection. Start with 10-minute exercise sessions a few times a day. Your heart is a muscle so will thank you for regularly increasing its beats per minute!
3. Prioritise 7 to 9 hours sleep: A habit upgrade could be turning off all screens about half an hour before bedtime. The light from screens can alert the brain and make it harder to fall asleep. Inadequate sleep not only deprives you of energy and productivity it also elevates inflammation which is particularly hazardous to heart health. In addition to this, your brain cannot detoxify without sleep, by sacrificing hours you’re accelerating the aging process and the likelihood of poor mental health.
4. Enjoy a Variety of Colourful Veggies Every Day: Incorporating a variety of colourful vegetables into your daily diet boosts hydration, digestion, detoxification, and provides essential vitamins and minerals. Even if you're not a vegetable fan, you can upgrade your eating habits by adding finely chopped veggies to your meals, such as courgettes and mushrooms in a chilli con carne or extra carrots, celery, and leeks in a beef stew. Experiment with soups, smoothies, and stir-fries. If cooking time is limited, choose pre-made meals that are packed with veggies!
5. Move every 45 minutes: Set reminders for energy breaks with a posture stretch. This habit upgrade helps with your blood flow and circulation. It also reduces the harmful effects of sitting such as musculoskeletal problems & lethargy whilst boosting natural energy!
6. Relax and reset with your breath: When we’re very stressed we breathe from our chest instead of our diaphragm. Diaphragmatic breathing is proven to reduce stress, anxiety & blood pressure whilst improving lung efficiency. Try upgrading your breathing habits, which may be shallow, to consciously taking deep breaths down into your belly, through your nose and out through your mouth, for about 5 minutes.

Have you had a blood pressure reading lately?

Blood Pressure UK runs awareness campaigns to encourage the whole of the UK to know their numbers and find those with undiagnosed and uncontrolled high blood pressure. If you or your team would like support in upgrading your habits for a healthier tomorrow then take a look at our signature Habits for Health programme .

Together, we can build a future where health and happiness are accessible to everyone.

References and further reading

https://www.wellbeingpeople.com/2020/03/12/8-steps-to-upgrade-your-eating-habits/ https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/articles/leadingcausesofdeathuk/2001to2018 https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/support/healthy-living/understanding-risk-factors https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6172294/ https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death

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