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Best practices to keep your heart healthy

Ana Fischer Leave a comment

The human heart is a vital part of the body and plays a very crucial role. But unhealthy lifestyle choices put your heart at risk. Exercising and a proper diet can maintain your heart healthy.  But what are the best practices to keep your heart healthy? Check out below.

Dental cleanliness

Good dental habits such as brushing your teeth every day and flossing after every meal are a good way of preventing your teeth from getting gum disease. These also help in keeping your heart healthy. According to recent studies, gum disease brings some changes into the blood stream that possibly will put you at risk of having a stroke or cardiovascular disease.

Avoid sitting for an extended period

Remaining seated for a prolonged duration in one place is not good for your health. This is regardless of how much you exercise. Sitting for a long time has been found by researchers to be linked with an increase in cardiovascular events. To maintain a healthy heart, then make a habit of not sitting for many hours by taking breaks.

Practice eating low-fat saturated foods

Fats play an essential role in your body, but it is also important to watch the intake level. Foods high in saturated fat, for example, ice cream and cheese can increase your blood cholesterol levels putting you at risk of having a heart disease. For example, you can make a habit of eating lower-fat dairy products. Eating fresh fruits can also help in keeping healthy.

Exercise regularly

Exercising is good in managing weight as it contributes to avoiding the development of conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels. Exercises are also useful in managing stress which is one of the factors causing heart disease. It is, therefore, vital to do simple exercises such as jogging, gardening, dancing, swimming and walking to help keep your heart healthier.

Have enough sleep

Adequate sleep is necessary to your wellbeing. A healthy sleep should be between seven and eight hours. Failure to get enough sleep puts you at danger of getting cardiovascular disease in spite of your age and other health habits. Research also reveals that people sleeping for less than six hours in one night are at risk of getting a stroke. Sleeping for fewer hours causes disruptions to biological processes.

Avoid or stop smoking

If you do not smoke, then don’t do it since it is not good for your overall healthy. However, if you are a smoker, then you will have to quit for the sake of your heart. Smoking can cause coronary heart disease. Quitting smoking is one of the ways to reduce the risk of getting this cardiovascular disease. Additionally, keep yourself away from secondhand smoke be it at home or work. Chemicals released from cigarette smoke encourage the growth of plaque buildup in the arteries.

Conclusion

Practicing good healthy lifestyle means having a healthy heart. If you have been having a hard time keeping your heart healthy, carry out these best practices.

 

A SUREFIRE ACTION PLAN TO BOOST ENDURANCE

Ana Fischer Leave a comment

Endurance in athletes is a requirement to keep on going without losing steam whether it is cycling, swimming, running or soccer. A combination of a few strategic training and proper nutrition, here are some helpful tips to give your endurance a boost.

Give muscles some time to rest. In order for athletes to go long and hard, they need to have fresh muscles. According to John Mandrola, a Greatist Expert, “Go hard on hard days; go easy on easy days; and never string hard days together without adequate rest.” Giving your muscles time to recuperate can help you go the distance.

Eating the right food. Carbs is the key when it comes to exercise nutrition, the reason for this is that our body make use of glycogen to fuel us when the going gets tough. The body goes to energy from different sources once all glycogen are used up, that’s the time fats begin to get burned. Depending on the weight of your body, consume at least 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour for a lengthy cardio session. According to studies, mixing carbs and protein can aid in improving endurance performance and minimize muscle damage. With that said, always remember that the best combination of carbohydrates, protein and fat differs significantly amongst athletes. To find the perfect combination, you can always experiment.

Less is always more. Most of the time less is definitely more. To help enhance endurance in concurrence with traditional training, try doing some great intensity interval training. Try mixing up running some stairs or workout on a track for some speed. Just make sure that after these workouts, get a lot of recovery.

Add some strength. Variation is of utmost importance when it comes to endurance training. Resistance training can help strengthen our ligaments, muscles, tendons and bones, which will aid in improving general fitness. To increase stamina, you can try combining aerobic exercises with dumbbells, kettle bells, and bodyweight exercises.

Listen to music. Listening to music has always been one of the best ways to give endurance performance a boost while walking, so it will not hurt if you’ll work out with a bit of tunes. Endurance athletes’ mind and body connection is particularly strong, and any ways to pick up the endurance will be a good help when the going gets tough.

Work on your weakness. Most of the time, when individuals found their niche in fitness, they tend to stick to it. According to Mandrola, people should try and mix things up in order to boost endurance; if you’re a marathoner, work on your speed, if you’re a flat-lander, stomp on those hills. Working on what’s most difficult and challenging will surely help you get that personal best.

Juice up. A study established that beets which are nitrate-rich may aid in improving one’s stamina for up to 16 percent by decreasing athlete’s oxygen intake.

Training smartly. Apply the gradual adaption principle, wherein a sure fire way to increase endurance is to slowly and steadily increase mileage and speed. There are numerous ways to do this in a safe way to avoid any injuries, from getting just the right sleep and drinking loads of water to running on soft surfaces.

3 Fitness habits on the go for a healthy body

Ana Fischer Leave a comment

How often do you think about your health during the day? Not so much probably, since we are all so busy with work as if it was the most important thing to us. Many people neglect their health because of lack of interest in it. It is only when something goes wrong and our body starts warning us that we start paying attention to it but it might be too late. Remember, a healthy body is a lean body! The summer is just around the corner so isn’t it time to start paying attention? We know you’re probably busy throughout the day to deal with fitness related activities which is why we have put together three habits on the go for getting and maintaining a healthy body!

The number one and the most important tip is, of course, working out. However, since you’re on a schedule you will have to figure out how to make time for the gym. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives today, that you can get a proper workout without any equipment or even leaving your home. All you have to do is download one of the fitness workout apps that will schedule your exercises and make it easy for you to keep up with them. We recommend doing HIIT workouts since they are the most effective and good to do on the run, since they last from 15 to 20 minutes.

After you get the habit of exercising, next step is nutrition. Now, we understand that changing your nutrition is a huge step in your life but there are a few things you can do on the go to improve it. One of those things would be including snacks between your meals to get the proteins you need. The trick is, the snacks should be fruits such as apples, bananas, peaches and so on. Avoid having junk food as snacks at all cost. The other thing you can do on the go is eat a spoonful of peanut butter every morning. Peanut butter is a great natural source of protein and it will give you the necessary energy for the day.

Last but not least, drink plenty of water! Having a bottle of water near you at all times is essential for keeping your body hydrated and in a good shape. Avoid drinking sodas or store bought juices because they are just an unnecessary source of sugar that will make you even thirstier than you were before. Drinking water will not only make you feel hydrated but it will affect your skin positively as well.

Combining these three easy steps and you will start feeling fresh within a week. Get your quick HIIT training schedule going, eat your peanut butter in the morning, have a fruit snack and don’t forget your bottle of water! All these things can be done on the go and once you get the habit of doing them, you wont even complain! It usually takes 21 days for humans to develop a habit so on that 22nd day you will come as good as new!