This one is for the men so buckle up because I know sometimes as men, we don’t want to listen to health advice. We push on pretending everything is ok, and maybe because you don’t ‘feel’ like you have any health issues, does that really mean you are in good health?
If we think about the leading cause of death in men, it is heart disease. And if I was to ask you what the most common sign of a heart attack is, do you know the answer? Chest pain, sweating, arm, and jaw pain?
All of those are common symptoms, but the most common sign is death. Yes, you don’t always get to feel the problem coming on until it is too late.
So, in this article I want to give you some simple and easy advice to help you get your health back on track. Because simply waiting for a problem before we choose to fix it, doesn’t always work.
Focusing again on heart disease, here are the top risk factors:
I am sure you knew this but if you know it and you understand how serious heart disease can be, why don’t you do the things needed to be healthy?
Often because it all seems like too much effort and it is easier to bury one’s head in the sand. Well today I am going to help you remove those excuses and give you three very simple tips to improve your heart health.
1. Eat well:
This is NOT a low-fat diet. This is a low sugar, high good fat diet. There are so many myths around diet. But take the Inuit’s for example, those people who live in igloos on the north pole. There were no incidences of heart disease until the introduction of sugar in their diet. And what do they eat all day? Blubber and fat…
For more information I would encourage you all to read this book, ‘The Paleo Cardiologist’ by Jack Wolfson.
2. Move your body:
This one is simple, and you don’t need a step counter! Just move, make sure you walk every day for at least 20 minutes. Ideally more intensive exercises, but in essence, all you need to do is move. Your heart is a muscle, like any other, it needs exercising. Increasing our heart rate will allow it that exercise. So, move, move until you start to sweat a little or breathe a little heavier. Move 20 minutes a day, you have time.
3. Help your body cope with Stress:
Stress is the biggest cause of heart issues, not only can it cause poor control over the heart, but long-term stress leads to hormonal changes and increased inflammation within the body.
It is difficult to stress less or reduce it, so what we can do is make our body more adaptable to it.
One great way to do this is box breathing, or simply slowing your breath. Do it now, stop reading, focus on your breathing and deliberately slow it down. This will cause your body to move into a more relaxed state, thus reducing the stress signals to the brain.
I know these steps sound simple, but health really is a simple act of being consistently good.
Don’t wait until it’s too late.
With love,
Tom
