Dr. John Strobeck: Common Habits That Can Risk Your Heart’s Health
Your heart is an important body organ because it mainly pumps blood throughout your system, providing oxygen and nutrients to keep you alive. So if you have poor heart health, it can lead to serious medical conditions such as stroke and high blood pressure. To keep your heart healthy, New Jersey-based cardiologist Dr. John Strobeck states that there are some common habits that you should avoid.
Smoking
Smoking is a big risk factor for heart disease because it can cause chest pain, high blood pressure, and even heart attacks. If you have diabetes or high cholesterol it’s even more important to quit smoking because it increases the risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD).
Other than that, smoking also raises your chances of having a stroke by 2-3 times compared with non-smokers. A recent study found that people who smoked were up to 5 times more likely than non-smokers to suffer from atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heartbeat that raises the risk of stroke by up to 4 times.
Lack Of Physical Activity
For those of you who lead a sedentary lifestyle, it’s easy to forget how important physical activity is for heart health. Even if you’re not an athlete or exercise enthusiast, there are plenty of ways to get moving.
For one, you can take the stairs instead of the elevator to get some cardiac exercise. You may also walk around while talking on the phone or listening to music (or even just turn off your phone). Lastly, you may join a dance class or sign up for an exercise class at your local gym with friends.
Living With Stress And Anxiety
Stress and anxiety are heavily linked to heart disease. For one, stress can cause you to experience high blood pressure, which puts stress on your heart. Anxiety can also cause people to experience high blood pressure, as well as other conditions such as obesity that lead to heart problems.
Dr. John Strobeck If you’re experiencing these destructive feelings, you must find effective ways of coping with them. Therapy can help treat these issues by teaching people how they can change their thinking patterns, and preventing risks of heart disease as well.
