Ways To Prevent Heart Disease for the Elderly
Heart disease is a true plague of our times. Every year more and more, including younger and younger people, suffer from them. Fortunately, heart diseases can be prevented in time. How? You will learn this in today’s article, because today we are presenting the most effective and easiest ways to avoid heart diseases. We guide you through the intricacies of a healthy diet to support heart disease prevention, provide ideas for safe, active recreation, heart disease signs, and talk about the specifics of heart disease in older people. There’s a lot of information, so let’s dive into this.
Heart disease signs
The symptoms of heart disease are not always obvious, so it is important to be vigilant, both with ourselves and our loved ones. Many heart disease signs are very similar in men and women. However, due to the nature of the endocrine system and the changes associated with menopause, heart problems in women may occur more frequently and their symptoms are much more common.
Symptoms of heart disease:
- palpitations,
- fatigue,
- shortness of breath,
- pressure or pain in the chest,
- persistent headaches,
- irritability and nervousness,
- nausea and epigastric pain,
- chronic weakness,
- dizziness,
- sleep disturbances,
- shortness of breath,
- palpitations,
- pressure behind the sternum,
- excessive sweating and fatigue even with little physical exertion,
- anxiety attacks.
At first glance, some of the symptoms do not seem to be related to heart problems in women or men, which is why proper heart disease prevention is so important. Therefore, if you notice at least some of these symptoms, be sure to see your doctor, because a quick heart disease diagnosis significantly increases the chances of recovery and choosing the right heart disease signs!
How to prevent heart disease?
Balanced diet
Nothing helps heart disease prevention more than a well-balanced diet! A healthy diet rich in whole grains, pasta or potatoes, vegetables, fruit, sea fish, low-fat dairy products and a limited amount of lean meat is essential for good heart health. The recommended fats are vegetable oils and olive oil and soft margarines, while avoiding fats of animal origin. Eat small portions 4-5 times a day and you should not be afraid of heart disease diagnosis! It is important to pay attention to the so-called antioxidant vitamins from groups A, C and E, which neutralise free radicals formed in our system under the influence of such factors as smoking, alcohol, fatty food, environmental pollution or sunlight.
Moderate physical activity
The next step in heart disease prevention is moderate but regular physical activity. Therefore, if you want to take care of your heart, introduce physical activity into your life; this can include stretching, strength and endurance exercises in moderation! Of course, the choice of activity should be adapted to your physical condition and fitness. Yet, walking, Nordic walking, running, swimming, cycling, stepping, aerobics classes or yoga should become on of the go-to forms of exercise for older people.
Lifestyle
The first step in heart disease treatment, as with prevention, is to fully give up harmful habits such as alcohol or nicotine consumption. Next, we must not forget the influence of stress! Stress stimulates us to action, through the secreted hormones adrenaline and adrenal cortex hormones, which act on the cardiovascular system by speeding up the heart rhythm, raising blood pressure and constricting blood vessels. The more stress we experience, the more our heart and vessels are stressed. Therefore, it is important to be realistic and take measures to relieve stress and tension.
Regular check-ups
The key to heart disease prevention is regular visits to a specialist, as well as keeping an eye on your symptoms. Besides, check your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels too! Increased levels of cholesterol and its LDL fraction promote the development of atherosclerosis. Therefore, it is essential to check the lipidogram periodically and if it shows abnormalities, it is necessary to introduce changes in the daily diet, as mentioned above. Pharmacies more and more often offer devices for self-measuring of blood pressure. It is advisable to ask your pharmacist to show you how to measure your blood pressure correctly and to help you interpret the results. If either or both blood pressure values are above 140/90 mm Hg, you should seek medical advice.
By taking into account these few rules and information, you will definitely be able to reduce the risk of heart disease for you or your loved ones, so be sure to share this article with them too! And if you still haven’t learned enough, check out our blog!
