Heart disease is considered to be one of the most prevalent medical condition in every part of the world. This is the reason why the call for a healthy lifestyle is rarely found only in one country. In the US alone, about one person suffers from heart attack every 18 minutes. Now, when one talks about healthy lifestyle, the first thing that comes to mind would be rigorous exercise routine and bland food. This, however, is not always the case. In fact, you can trim a few numbers from your weight with just a simple activity.
Keeping a healthy lifestyle can be quite challenging for most people, especially if you are not used to keeping to a certain diet or getting physically active. Fortunately, with medical professionals getting to understand more and more how the human body works, this might no longer be the case. If you want to keep your heart healthy and lessen the risk for a cardiac arrest, all you have to do is walk.
Recent studies have shown that walking is one of the easiest ways by which you can reduce your risk for a coronary heart disease. In 2014, it has been found out that brisk walking for 5 minutes each hour could actually reverse the arterial damage caused by sitting down for extended periods of time. By walking at least 30 minutes each day, you are actually able to:
- Improve your blood pressure as well as your blood sugar level
- Keep your body weight within prescribed range
- Lessen the risk for a variety of medical conditions including breast and colon cancer, osteoporosis, and type II diabetes
- Lessen the likelihood of developing dementia
- Keeps your legs, bum, and tummy toned
- Improve your Body Mass Index (BMI)
- Trim down your waist line
Studies have also shown that, when it comes to taking a walk, every hour that you do brisk walking, you are actually prolonging your life by around two hours.
Why Not Run?
Although running also has its own advantages, studies have shown that moderately brisk walking can have the same effect as running without the risk of over stressing your muscles. What’s more, it does not have to be much of a burden as walking can be done:
- on your way to the office
- while walking your dog
- going to the park with your family
- while running errands
Of course, as with all physical activities, you need to match your walking habit with the right diet. Right diet does not have to be bland but it has to be a right mix of vegetables, fruits, meat, and carbohydrates. While you’re at it, you would also need to make sure that you hydrate regularly.
If you would like to be on the safe side, especially if you are one of those considered to have a high risk for heart attack, it would also be good to make sure that you and your family have an AED unit on hand. If you want to take it a step farther, you might even want to consider enrolling in a CPR training program.
