Three heart-healthy habits you should adopt

Maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system is no longer a matter of guesswork or conflicting advice. Medical science provides us with clear directions about the lifestyle changes we need to make to improve heart health and overall physical fitness. You can experience substantial benefits from adding even a few heart-healthy habits to your daily routine.

Here are three good ones to begin with:

Any exercise is better than none

Heart & Stroke points out that being active daily - even a little is better than nothing - will lower your risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. As a bonus, becoming more physically active also decreases your risk of cancer by 20%. With the broad protection that exercise offers, you will have more energy and be much less likely to need to use your private medical health insurance policy.

Eat breakfast

Skipping breakfast increases the risk of heart attack or developing heart disease by 27%. People who skip breakfast are also more likely to gain weight and to develop diabetes. Your body needs fuel regularly to keep its organs and systems functioning properly.

Monitor your blood pressure

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is the strongest risk factor for heart disease, and it generally has no symptoms. For this reason, you should check your blood pressure at least once a year and discuss the results with your physician. If you have been given medication to lower your blood pressure, be sure to take it as prescribed. Heart & Stroke recommends that those with a blood pressure reading regularly higher than 120/80 should talk with their doctor about getting treatment.

Regardless of how old you are, you can improve the quality of your life and increase your likelihood of living to a healthy old age by taking better care of your heart. You can initiate an exercise routine today and check your cupboards to plan what you’ll eat for breakfast tomorrow.