Wellbeing

10 Little Changes For a Health Heart

Find out the lifestyle habits that will make your heart sing

Despite dark nights and chilly mornings, there’s joy to be found everywhere if we look hard enough. And what better way to lift our spirits and get our hearts beating a little better, than focusing on one of our most important organs. Improve your health by just one percent a day and you’re on your way to a happier heart and fuller soul.

1. Perfect your mornings

Often our mornings are crammed with micro-stressors, however, starting your day with exercise or mindfulness will reduce your daily dose of stress. “Despite everything the pandemic has brought, people made time for self-care,” says consultant cardiologist Dr Ameet Bakhai from the Spire Bushey Hospital (spirehealthcare.com). “Reducing stress is key to improving heart health as stress causes blood pressure to rise, increasing the workload of the heart. It can also lead to angina (heart pain) or, if more severe, a heart attack.”

2. Break your fast with fibre

Swap a few of those bread slices each week for forms of soluble fibre. This handy nutrient, found in oats, oat bran, beans, pulses and some fruit and vegetables, can help reduce unhelpful low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol levels which causes damaging build-up and blockage in your arteries.

3. Feed your soul

Listening to your heart’s desire may feel like a rather abstract concept, so start small. Next time you’re on a familiar walk, step off the path to experience a new view. Stop for a moment to appreciate the scene you’re part of, and play a song through your earphones that makes your heart sing. When preparing a meal, take extra time to watch butter melt, listen to water slowly come to the boil or smell spices as they sizzle. Now build these moments into your day, taking a few minutes every hour to savour the sights, sounds and smells all around you. What lifts your spirits? Try to make more time for the sensory pleasures that gladden your heart.

4. Break free from old patterns

“Restricting yourself isn’t a great way to live,” says clinical nutritionist Amaeze Madukah (lifesrecipe.co). “Don’t deprive yourself every treat because that’s when you obsess about food.” Instead, Amaeze recommends reframing cravings within a healthier continuum, rather than being on or off the waggon. “Think, ‘I have permission to eat this because I want it and it will nourish my body’. A biscuit a day isn’t going to derail a healthy lifestyle, just make sure you’re also getting plenty of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains.”

5. Find movement you love

Building in more enjoyable movement will pay dividends. “Any exercise will make a difference – it doesn’t have to be huge amounts,” says Dr Bakhai. “A key risk factor is a sedentary lifestyle; regular physical activity – such as brisk walking, swimming or cycling – will help to increase levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol which helps remove other forms of bad cholesterol from your bloodstream. Exercise will also help protect your heart in other ways – it will give the muscle a good work out, reduce blood pressure and will help control your weight and deal with stress.”

6. Heal your wounds

Many of us carry deep emotional pain or trauma, often dismissing our feelings. But unprocessed emotional harm can leave a physical mark, according to Dr Bakhai: “Extreme emotional stress such as that associated with grief can cause the tip of your left ventricle to temporarily dilate. This is known as tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy; broken hearts are more common than previously thought, with one study finding five percent of those admitted to hospital with sudden heart pain had tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy.” Talking therapies are a great way to unpack emotional baggage and start the healing process.

7. Choose healthy fats

“We all need fat,” points out Amaeze. “It has an important role in our bodies, transporting certain hormones, for example. What we should focus on is the type. Avocados, oily fish, walnuts and olives are all sources of fats that will help your heart function while saturated fats in processed meats or bakery items are linked to unhelpful cholesterol.”

8. Have a tipple tactically

If your Dry January turned a bit soggy there’s still time to make your relationship with alcohol more heart-healthy. “In small quantities, alcohol has a relaxing effect on blood vessels and acts as a diuretic to increase fluid and sodium loss through the kidneys,” says Dr Sarah Brewer (Healthspan.co.uk). “This lowers blood pressure to a certain extent. As a result, drinking one glass (100ml) a day of wine is generally deemed acceptable.”

9. Have a device detox

As we stagger through the final stages of this pandemic, many find a sense of burnout fuelled by the constant news cycle, which feeds our anxieties and lack of focus. In her new book From Burnout to Balance (£12.99, Hardie Grant), Harriet Griffey cites a 2020 study that shows people with high levels of burnout have a 20 percent higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate and can, in turn, increase the risk of heart attack and strokes. Harriet recommends many small changes, including this gem: Try plugging in your phone to charge overnight in another room and investing in an old-school alarm clock. This could help to reduce time spent looking at social media in bed before sleeping and upon waking.

10. Sleep soundly

An amazing night’s sleep is so central to our concept of wellbeing that it’s not surprising it also matters to your heart. Research cited by the British Heart Foundation suggests sleep is involved in glucose metabolism, blood pressure and inflammations, all of which influence our likelihood of cardiovascular disease. Perfecting sleep hygiene will make it easier to drift off, try to turn in at the same time, every evening; use screen limits on your devices to reduce exposure to disruptive blue light; and steer away from taking a hot bath or shower last thing. A lower core temperature is just the thing to help you to a deep, dream-filled slumber.