15 minutes to a healthier heart
Your heart is your body’s powerhouse and keeping it healthy is vital for your longevity. The good news is, it only takes a few minutes a day to feed and exercise it to keep it fighting fit
Making a few small changes to your daily routine could make a huge difference to your heart health. Experts predict that 80 per cent of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented if we spent more time looking after our hearts. “It’s never too late,” says cardiologist Dr Ali Khavandi, a consultant at BMI Bath Clinic in Somerset and founder of www.cardiologistskitchen.com. “Your risk of heart disease responds quickly to lifestyle changes and whatever your age, you can see improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol within a few weeks with just a few simple daily tweaks.” Your heart is the centre of your cardiovascular system and responsible for just about everything that gives you life
– from transporting oxygen and nutrients to every cell to keeping your immune system firing. It’s easy to take it for granted as many of the problems that affect it, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, often don’t have visible symptoms. This means that as many as seven million people in the UK have cardiovascular disease and one person dies from it every three minutes, according to the British Heart Foundation. While there is a genetic link in heart disease, studies show it’s lifestyle rather than family history that has the biggest impact.