Seven Striking Habits That Are Harmful To Your Heart

Taking care of your heart is still on all our to-do lists. But there are habits that are harmful to the heart, although we ignore their possible consequences.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death worldwide.

This reality leaves us with sobering facts to keep in mind. Many of these deaths could have been avoided.

Factors such as tobacco, poor diet, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle or alcohol consumption are causes that lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases, conditions that can have serious consequences in the short or long term.

While a small proportion of these deaths are caused by congenital factors rather than the above, for the sake of heart health, we need to take more responsibility.

Our daily habits make for a healthy or unhealthy heart.

Let’s take good care of it. Let’s make small efforts every day and also think about the following factors that we will explain in today’s article.

Seven Striking Habits That Are Harmful to Your Heart

1. Ignoring Snoring

You might think that snoring is normal. You might even think that everyone snores, whether it’s a little or a lot.

Usually we don’t think about it when our partner complains or when we wake up tired and with a headache. We let it go because we really believe it’s not serious.

It’s a big mistake to think it’s nothing serious.

A significant number of snoring cases can be the result of sleep apnea. This condition consists of an abrupt interruption of breathing, which eventually affects the blood pressure.

If this disturbance occurs night after night, it can have serious consequences for your heart.

2. Neglecting Your Oral Hygiene

This is an important aspect that you should be very aware of in your daily life. Gum disease can affect your heart.

Periodontal disease can range from a simple gum disease to more serious cases. In severe cases, these can even lead to tooth loss.

You have to remember that your mouth is full of bacteria. In addition, plaque or tartar can get into your body, which can lead to inflammation.

If these bacteria get into your blood, they can damage your heart.

So don’t forget to visit your dentist regularly.

3. Eating too much red meat

Red meat itself is not harmful as long as you  consume it in moderation .

Instead of trying to eliminate it completely from your diet, try to understand that it has a high saturated fat content that affects your cardiovascular health.

Due to the high content of saturated fats, red meat should not be on the menu too often. The same goes for meat products such as lard, sausage or meat products mixed with chemical products that are already bad for our health.

As always, it is important to strive for balance.

4. Non-smokers who live with smokers

Maybe you are active, sporty and healthy. You may be part of the people who take good care of their health while avoiding unhealthy habits that have long-term negative consequences for your heart.

But you could also work with a smoker. Or worse, the smoker could be our partner.

In this case, you can’t look the other way: Passive smokers also develop a risk of cardiovascular disease associated with tobacco.

That is exactly why you should always try to help the people closest to you to eliminate smoking from their lives.

5. Not eating fruits and vegetables harms your heart

We all know someone who always says, “I don’t like anything that’s green… Anything that isn’t meat isn’t real food to me.”

However, ‘real’ food is the food that keeps us healthy, keeps our hearts healthy, and keeps our bodies in balance thanks to the nutrients it contains.

Fruits and vegetables are the basic building blocks of a healthy diet. Substitution with junk food or meat carries a greater risk of developing a cardiovascular problem.

6. Emotional Problems Affect Your Heart

The problems we have at work, disagreements with our boss or colleagues, family tensions, worries, life problems, bad luck, feeling lonely…

These are all possible factors. When you experience them, they can sometimes have a serious impact on the heart.

Stress, anxiety or dissatisfaction translates into higher levels of cortisol in our blood. Along with other hormonal fluctuations, this can have a devastating effect on overall health in the long run.

7. Postpone Problems

Chest or arm pain, exhaustion after climbing stairs, mouth or stomach pain, tight neck or jaw, dizziness, occasional fainting, tachycardia…

• In many cases, these are factors related to the list of symptoms associated with heart problems.
• However, many of us hardly have time to make an appointment with our GP.
• We tell ourselves it’s nothing more than stress. We ignore our aches and pains until something serious happens.

Let’s avoid this kind of situation. Let’s devote time to our hearts and let’s understand that small symptoms play a very important role: they warn us that something is happening in our body.

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