7 Tips to a Healthy Heart

• Get checked out: Be sure to obtain annual physicals with bloodwork evaluations, so that you can adjust your lifestyle based on your current state of health. Aside from your physicals, you should schedule an appointment with your primary care doctor or seek the advice of a reputable cardiologist, such as Dr. Shervin Eshaghian, M.D., should you experience repeated bouts of breathlessness, heart palpitations, dizziness or recurrent fatigue. However, if you are experiencing extreme shortness of breath accompanied by dizziness or fainting and pain in your chest, arms, jaw, neck and/or back, seek immediate medical attention.
• De-stress your life: When you are under a constant state of stress, your blood pressure rises, your heart rate increases and the stress hormone, cortisol, is released. Cortisol leads to countless negative effects on your body, such as lowered immune system functioning, imbalance of blood sugar levels and increased abdominal fat.
• Exercise: Performing at least 20 minutes a day of aerobic or cardio exercise can improve your heart health and increase your metabolism. Also, adding in light weight training at least twice week will increase your “good” cholesterol or HDL.
• Socialize and relax: Taking time out to connect with family and friends, which has been shown to lower your blood pressure.
• Quit smoking and avoid secondhand smoke: Smoking and secondhand smoke harms many of your organs leading to various diseases, one of which is heart disease.
• Eat healthy: There are many ways to transition into healthy eating that can improve your heart health, such as reducing your intake of salt, caffeine, red meat, trans fat, triglycerides, simple sugars and white flour products. As you decrease the amount of these items in your diet, be sure to add in green vegetables, a variety of nuts, lean protein, high fiber foods and whole grains.
• Get a good nights’ rest. Sleep is most beneficial to your overall health when you sleep longer than 7 hours. Research has found that sleeping for less than 7 hours per night will activate the release of cortisol and increase your blood pressure.

If you reside in the greater Los Angeles area, contact the friendly, informative staff today of Beverly Hills Cardiology at (310) 858-6500 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Shervin Eshaghian M.D. It’s time you gain helpful advice on how to prevent heart disease and improve the health of your heart.