3 Simple and Underrated Tips to Keep Your Heart Healthy

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the world’s leading cause of death, accounting for one out of every three deaths. A strong heart is essential for general wellness. A healthy lifestyle can help prevent heart disease and minimize your chance of having a heart attack or stroke at any age. It is never too late or too soon to start caring for your heart.

Cardiologist Michael Twyman, M.D., shared that there are more underrated habits that we can take into consideration in keeping our hearts healthy. And these tips won’t have you going to a gym or buying expensive equipment for a workout.

1. Sleep

Your blood pressure and heart rate decrease when you fall asleep and enter non-REM sleep. Your parasympathetic nervous system manages your body while you sleep, and your heart does not work as hard as it does when you are up. Your sympathetic system is stimulated during REM sleep and when you wake up, causing it to boost your heart rate and blood pressure to normal levels while you are awake and relaxed.

Twyman said that your ability to sleep is the most important. According to him, that’s when the mitochondria are recovering. When we sleep, our body is “recharging”, which is essential for the mitochondria and also for our cardiovascular health. He explained, “If you have chronic fatigue, you’re just dragging all the time, your mind is foggy, you get chronic infections all the time… That’s a sign that your mitochondria are not efficient at making energy for you”.

2. The importance of your circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles of physical, mental, and behavioral changes. These natural processes are predominantly influenced by light and dark and affect the majority of living things. Circadian rhythms can have an impact on vital bodily functions such as body temperature, hormone release, and eating habits and digestion.

Twyman expressed that circadian rhythm is so important and should be the no. 1 step to our optimal well-being. With the subject of sleep, it is also important to keep it in tune with our circadian rhythm. “Your circadian biology dictates how your nutrients get processed in your system,” he explains. “So you have to get your circadian biology right first.”

3. Consume enough protein

Protein can be tricky: If you’re familiar with the cardiovascular health debate, you’re certainly aware that eating too much red meat has been linked to an increase in cardiovascular risk, depending on your biology. That is why, if you have a higher risk of CVD, many specialists recommend eating a plant-based diet.

“Getting enough protein is critical,” Twyman said. “You always want to focus on whole food protein if possible,” like eggs and fish, prioritizing cold water fish like salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring. “But if you can’t get enough eggs or fish in your diet, then I’m not opposed to protein powders,” he noted.

4. Takeaway

Working out and eating well is insufficient for optimal heart health. Without a doubt, diet is vital, but you also want to prepare your mitochondria to digest nutrients as efficiently as possible because when it is in good shape, every other function (cardiovascular included) performs admirably.