Summers are officially here! And most of us, hopefully, all have been taking adequate precautions to stay hydrated and cool from outside and inside. But not many of us would know that heat can be harmful to our heart as well. For the last year, with several celebrities being victims of heart attacks, most of us have been concerned about our heart health. While heart health has a direct connection with your sedentary lifestyle and stress, it also has a lot to do with heat waves as well. We all know that heart is a very vital organ that helps in blood circulation throughout the body along with managing our blood pressure levels. If there is more pressure on the heart for any reason, it may affect our daily productivity and performance. And while there is a lot that you can do to keep your heart health in check, here are some basic tips to save your heart from the heat outside and improve your heart health.
Hydration: We must keep adding water to the body which helps in enhancing the blood circulation and makes sure that the heart is functioning well. Lack of water may thicken up our blood, which can constrict the blood vessels and ultimately this can increase the risk of a heart attack in many. Drink plenty of water and do don get confused between hunger and thirst signals. At times, when we are thirsty we end up having a meal to curb that down thinking it's a hunger pang. Let's make sure that next time when you feel hungry try and drink a glass full of water and observe for 10-15 mins. If your hunger pang subsides that means it was a thirst signal. Try and add lemon water, fennel water, infused water and coconut water to increase the hydration levels during summers.
Early Dinner: Have an early dinner by sunset or before seven in the evening so that you can keep a long time gap between your sleep and dinner. This helps in shutting down the digestion at night and when we sleep our body utilises all of the energy obits for healing purposes. This helps in reducing overall inflammation not just from the heart but also in your entire body. In addition, you also sleep better when digestion is stopped because you may not sleep well with a full stomach and lack of sleep can increase the risk of cardiac issues.
Maintain the same eating cycle: It's very important that you fix a proper time for your meal and follow the same meal timings for all meals breakfast, lunch and dinner for at least six days a week. If our meal timings change we put the body under stress and ultimately when we eat under stress it will harm the heart. So let's align the biological clock with your way of life.
Activity: I've been talking about the benefits of being active, how movement helps in improving blood circulation, how the feel-good hormones work on relaxing the mind and body including the heart and this helps in managing stress, BP as well as heart issues. Try and add an hour of workouts at least four days a week. Move around throughout the day to achieve eight to 10 thousand steps to improve overall blood circulation as well as heart health.
Meditation: Try and follow at least 10 minutes of meditation to take out some time for yourself because when we meditate we activate the rest and digest mode of the body which suppresses the stress. This ultimately lowers our blood pressure and reduces pressure from the heart as well as prevents us from any cardiac issues. So try and start your mornings peacefully and enjoy the rest of the day joyfully.