6 Heart Health Tips From Top Cardiologists

There are lots of ways to keep your ticker in tip-top shape. Some of the more obvious ones are eating a heart-healthy diet, being active, maintaining a healthy weight, managing your cholesterol and blood pressure, and quitting smoking. But there are some less obvious – and even fun – things you can do to ward off heart disease.

CHOOSE (DARK) CHOCOLATE
Dark chocolate has flavonoids in it. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants that protect us from toxins that are created in our bodies … Dark chocolate helps dilate your blood vessels, can lower your blood pressure, makes your blood less sticky so you don’t clot as much and can lower the bad cholesterol. But the science has shown that it’s really hard dark chocolate. You don’t want to pour melted dark chocolate on a marshmallow. That’s defeating the purpose. A small amount of those little dark chocolate squares … that’s what’s good for you.

HIT THE PAVEMENT
What if I told you that the best type of exercise for the heart was free, easy to do, safe, and simple – would you try it? … All you need is a good pair of sneakers or walking shoes and a little bit of motivation to get out the door. You can get significant heart benefits by walking for as little as 30 minutes a day. And a study shows that by doing a total of two-and-a-half hours of moderate-intensity activity (such as brisk walking) every week, you can lower the risk of heart disease by 14%. 

GET IT ON
Having sex increases the immune system, decreases inflammation and helps us in maintaining healthy and loving relationships. If you’ve had heart disease or you’re trying to prevent heart disease, I will tell you that having regular sex with a loving partner is part of the deal.

SQUASH STRESS
Stress is really bad for your heart. It has direct toxic effects on our hearts because when we get stressed we release stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol. Those cause our heart rate to go up, our blood pressure to go up, our body becomes inflamed, inflammation goes up and our blood becomes thick and sticky. All of those things together cause a perfect storm for a heart attack. Stress also causes indirect problems. When we’re stressed we tend to exercise less, we tend to grab for comfort foods and overeat and we also try to self-medicate by drinking and smoking. So the direct and indirect effects are what really take a toll on our heart.

FOCUS ON FLAXSEED
Flaxseed has been shown in clinical trials to affect low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and lipoprotein (a), both of which increase the risk for atherosclerotic diseases (i.e. coronary heart disease). It is also beneficial in reducing blood pressure and inflammation and does not adversely affect HDL (good cholesterol).

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