5 Good Heart Health Tips

You have probably heard how prevalent heart disease is. In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in the United States. With risk factors steadily on the rise, it has never been more important for women to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Here are five good heart health tips to help you do just that.

This post is sponsored by Campbell Soup Company. The opinions expressed are my own.

Five Good Heart Health Tips

1. De-Stress

Keeping stress out of our lives isn’t easy, but take the time to unwind with breathing exercises, yoga, or a warm bath. Getting enough sleep will also help your body deal with stress better and maintain your weight better.

2. Lower Sodium Intake

Reduce sodium in your meals by using less salt and choosing low sodium options when available.

3. Make Healthier Cooking Choices

Try baking, roasting or steaming, instead of frying. Choice lean meats and whole grains for good heart health. Eat plenty of in season vegetables.

4. Chose Heart Healthy Snacks and Meals

When choosing prepared foods, pick ones that are heart healthy. You may also wish to try effective healthy heart supplement. A few tips for finding heart healthy foods below.

5. Exercise

The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week to prevent heart disease and stroke. You can walk, run, do jumping jacks, sit up, and push ups, or any other physical activity you enjoy such as yoga or rock climbing. You may want to get your exercise with your partner to make it more fun.

So you have decided to exercise for heart health but now you are wondering what you should do? Here are some tips for heart healthy exercise.

1. The Amount Of Exercise

The American Heart Association suggests that to improve overall cardiovascular health, you should get at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise (or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity). This breaks down to about 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week for moderate exercise or 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, 3 times a week. The AHA also says that if you are looking to lowering your blood pressure or cholesterol, you may want to increase the exercise to 40 minutes of aerobic exercise of moderate to vigorous intensity, three to four times a week.

2. The Type of Exercise

Here is the beautiful part. You get to pick any type of physical activity that you enjoy. (Pick what you enjoy so that you have the most chance of carrying through with your choice.) It can be as simple as walking for 30 minutes, which is free and easy! Exercise for heart health can include things like climbing stairs, playing sports, doing yoga, aqua aerobics, or biking.

Aerobic exercise benefits your heart, and includes walking, biking, and swimmng. Strength and stretching exercise benefits your overall stamina and flexibility. It is a great idea to include both types of exercise into your routine. I say routine because having a routine is an important part of adopting the habit of exercising. A new habit is hard to create at first but then is self sustaining.

3. Don’t Forget To Warm Up And Cool Down

A warm-up helps to dilates your blood vessels and raise your muscle temperature for optimal flexibility and efficiency. A warm up helps slowly raise your heart rate which minimizes stress on your heart. The cool-down is just as crucial to your health. The cool down prevents the light-headedness that can happen when you stop too suddenly. It is important to drop your heart rate and blood pressure slowly.

Foods For Good Heart Health:

Campbell Soup Company is dedicated to helping people care for their hearts by providing delicious, heart-healthy foods and recipes as part of their continued support of the American Heart Association. Campbell Soup Company offers a diverse portfolio of foods that balance great taste with nutritional value, including more than 80 options that meet the criteria for the American Heart Association’s heart check mark. That is a lot of variety! Certified Campbell’s products include Healthy Request® soups, V8 beverages, Prego pasta sauces and Pepperidge Farm whole-grain breads.

I like that Campbell makes it easy to incorporate delicious and easy-to-make heart-healthy products and heart-healthy recipes into your daily life. My favorite Campbell’s Heart-Healthy soup is Southwest Style Bean and Barley. What’s yours?

Which good heart health tip is your favorite? I hope you try to incorporate all five of them. I do!

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