With poor eating habits and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, heart disease has become one of the most common and dangerous conditions affecting people. As the rates of heart problems continue to grow, there has been a push to raise awareness in methods to prevent it.
Once early symptoms of cardiovascular disease present themselves, cardiologists in a field of medicine called interventional cardiology use non-surgical procedures utilizing catheters and stents to enter blood vessels for diagnostic testing or even to repair damaged heart structures. While these operations are relatively noninvasive as compared to open heart surgery, there are ways to avoid the need for them. Here are a few recommendations for lowering your risk of heart disease:
- A better diet: Eating habits have proven to be one of the strongest links to heart failure. diets high in saturated fats and sodium can clog arteries and vessels. To prevent heart troubles, you should consume no more than 2,400 mg of sodium per day; if you have the will power to cut it down to 1,500 mg a day it would be even better.
- Exercise: Regular physical activity is a powerful tool to keep your heart healthy. It can even have positive effects in interventional cardiology by improving previous damage to vessels and arteries. All you need to reap the benefits of exercise is around 30 minutes of moderate-level activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.
- Bad habits: There are certain habits that can affect blood pressure and damage in heart structures that can unfortunately be addictive. Smoking and drinking both have a strong association with heart disease, especially those who do it on a daily or relatively regular basis.
Between high blood pressure, high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and smoking, following these guidelines can prevent these three key risk factors in developing coronary problems. Unfortunately, almost half, around 49%, of Americans have at least one of the three risk factors.
Getting into a routine of healthy living can become a habit of its own after following it for a length of time. Even avoiding the need for interventional cardiology could lead to a longer, better quality life. How well are you treating your heart?
