There is no better time to take care of your own heart health than now. If you feel that your heart is under strain, weakened by illness or an unhealthy lifestyle, you should never wait to take steps toward improvement.
The sooner you make your heart health a priority, the better - and we do not recommend this only because Valentine's Day, the “day of hearts,” is just around the corner. Without the heart, nothing works in the human body. It affects our emotions, our performance and our overall well-being.
Heart conditions often develop gradually and can have a wide range of causes. During the winter months in particular, many people contract the flu or other infections, which can also strain and damage the heart. Chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus also pose a threat to heart health that must not be ignored.
In addition, an unhealthy lifestyle involving an unhealthy diet, little exercise and bad habits such as smoking or excessive alcohol consumption can strain, weaken and damage the heart over a long period of time. And yes - the way we deal with our emotions also affects heart health.
In this article, we would therefore like to outline five simple steps you can take to look after your heart and achieve better heart health. Of course, our recommendations cannot replace medical advice. If you believe you are suffering from heart disease, you should always consult a doctor you trust.
You can also undergo preventive examinations even if you do not experience any signs of heart problems. In this case too, prevention is always better than cure.
Below, we will first give you a brief statistical overview of heart conditions in Germany, before providing tips for a more heart-friendly lifestyle and introducing some practical, handy devices that you can use for heart monitoring and to keep an eye on your vital signs at all times.
Statistics on the current state of heart health in Germany
The German Heart Foundation regularly compiles all important data on the state of heart health among the German population. With more than 207,000 deaths per year, heart disease remains one of the most common causes of death in Germany.
More than 1.7 million Germans suffer from heart disease that has already required inpatient treatment. Around 218,000 of them are admitted to hospital with a heart attack every year. In addition to heart attacks and coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiac arrhythmias, heart valve diseases, atrial fibrillation and heart failure are among the most common heart conditions.
Five steps to maintaining your heart health
The good news: We can all take our fate into our own hands and do something to keep our hearts healthy for a long time. Many of the risk factors for heart disease can be avoided quite easily. The main reason for the gradual deterioration of heart health, which usually only becomes noticeable acutely in people over 50, is a lack of knowledge.
Those who do not know what harms the heart cannot eliminate these factors from their lives. And quite often, pleasurable habits such as smoking cigarettes, eating certain foods or excessive comfort are responsible for wearing down our hearts. Here are five steps intended to identify and explain harmful behaviors while also serving as a guide to better heart health.
Step 1: Avoid anything that can harm the heart
Two major human vices must be mentioned here: smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. Both are demonstrably harmful to the heart. Smoking is even considered one of the greatest risk factors for vascular diseases, which can cause strokes and cancer in addition to heart attacks. On average, around 120,000 people in Germany die every year as a result of tobacco use.
The good news: Those who manage to quit smoking have a good chance that their heart, lungs and other organs will recover. Numerous studies and statistics show that completely giving up smoking can extend life by many years, even after heavy consumption.
Smoking is rightly considered an addiction, and many people find it extremely difficult to give up this habit. Incidentally, e-cigarettes are not a sensible alternative either, as some people even consume more nicotine with them. However, if you want to ban toxins such as cigarettes and alcohol from your life, you are not alone.
In Germany, there are many initiatives and support programs that can show you the way out of addiction. And once you have stayed away from harmful substances for long enough, you will be rewarded with noticeably better health. Quit smoking and you will already have taken the most important step toward a healthy heart.
Step 2: Stay active and participate in life
Exercise is life! Those who do not exercise, or exercise too little, allow important organs such as the heart to deteriorate and deprive it of the performance it needs to stay healthy. Exercise not only trains the heart and keeps the blood flowing, but also has a positive effect on the entire organism.
From digestion to mental health, a great deal depends on physical activity, which ultimately also stimulates the release of so-called “happiness hormones.”
Here too, we have good news for you, because even daily walks make a huge difference. Make your life active: for example, walk around while making phone calls instead of sitting, or cover short distances on foot or by bicycle instead of driving.
Even light strength training has been proven to have positive effects on heart health. If you already suffer from heart problems, medical advice can help you find a suitable program to restore your fitness. You do not need to become a competitive athlete to have a healthy heart.
To return to the happiness hormones: An active life and activities with friends and like-minded people are particularly valuable for your heart. Never isolate yourself; instead, take an active part in life. Groups of people of all ages who organize shared activities such as hikes, bike tours or dance evenings can be found almost everywhere.
Never underestimate the negative effects of loneliness on your heart health. Instead, take advantage of the benefits of companionship, because it is also easier to find your way to a more active life together with others, as you can encourage and support one another.
Step 3: Get enough sleep and relaxation
The heart needs balance to counter everyday stress. Stress is a normal part of life and only becomes a problem when it gets out of hand and the body has no opportunity to recover. When we sleep and consciously relax, we counteract the negative effects of stress, such as elevated blood sugar or blood pressure.
So make time for hobbies and activities that you enjoy and that help you unwind. From fishing and arts and crafts to guided relaxation in a yoga class, everyone has their own preferences.
We all need to sleep, because sooner or later the body needs these hours in which it rests completely and effectively shuts down. During sleep, pulse and blood pressure decrease, and important recovery processes take place in the body. The amount of sleep required varies slightly from person to person.
However, at least six to eight hours per night should be the minimum. If you consistently get too little sleep, the exact opposite may occur: insufficient recovery promotes the development of heart disease. In this case, you should definitely seek medical advice. If you still feel weak and tired during the day despite getting enough sleep, it should be clarified whether a condition such as sleep apnea is affecting you.
Step 4: Pay attention to your diet and weight
How we eat influences all processes in the body and therefore also heart health. Two substances are particularly harmful when consumed in excess: sugar and salt. Salt is naturally essential for life, but the body only needs small amounts per day.
Too much salt initially binds water and raises blood pressure. Once a certain point is reached, the body excretes the excess salt in the urine, which becomes a problem if you do not consume enough fluids. In fact, most people drink far too little - however, they should consume at least two liters of water per day.
By contrast, we could practically do without sugar altogether. As pleasant as sugar tastes, it is essentially a toxin - especially for the heart. Excessive sugar consumption in Western industrialized nations leads to widespread overweight and related diseases such as diabetes.
Being overweight is very dangerous, because it not only increases blood pressure but also increases the burden the body has to carry every day. Beyond a certain point, it becomes very strenuous for the heart to pump oxygen-rich blood through a heavy and bulky body. Many doctors therefore recommend a Mediterranean diet with plenty of vegetables and fruit, more fish instead of meat and a low salt content to maintain heart health.
Step 5: Keep an eye on vital signs such as blood pressure, blood sugar and pulse
We have talked a lot about vital signs such as blood pressure, blood sugar levels and pulse rate. You can have these values determined through medical examinations, which can also tell you what your individual optimal values should be. In addition, modern medical technology gives you the opportunity to monitor your vital signs yourself using portable measuring devices.
For example, you could carry a handy blood glucose meter with you to monitor your blood sugar level - not only after diabetes has developed, but also when there is a suspected risk. Blood pressure and heart values can likewise be checked at any time in everyday life, at work or at home using portable devices.
Only cholesterol levels, which are also very important, can be checked solely through medical tests. It is therefore advisable to have a general health check-up with your family doctor at least once a year.
Monitor heart health with diagnostic devices from Medicalcorner24
The Medicalcorner24 online shop offers an extensive range of portable measuring devices suitable for heart monitoring or monitoring related vital functions.
For example, you could buy a portable ECG device to record your heart rhythm over an extended period. The data can later be stored and analyzed via USB interface on your home PC. Portable ECG devices are very handy and easy to use.
If you buy such an ECG device, you can use it for regular measurements of heart activity or measure it only when necessary, for example to monitor your heart after unusual exertion.
Modern blood pressure monitors are easy to operate manually and can be conveniently carried with you in everyday life. It is no longer absolutely necessary to take measurements using bulky cuffs on the upper arm. The compact manual blood pressure monitors from the MC24 shop feature cuffs that fit effortlessly around the wrist.
These blood pressure monitors also feature large displays and numerous memory slots, enabling you to analyze and compare many measurements over a longer period of time.
For people with diabetes, being able to measure their blood sugar level at any time is crucial - also for maintaining heart health. At Medicalcorner24, you can buy portable blood glucose meters and also find essential accessories such as safety lancets, lancing devices or diabetes bags with cooling packs.
It makes sense to buy a portable pulse oximeter if you want to monitor both your pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation during all activities. Usually, the compact devices are simply placed on the finger, where their measurement light can determine pulse values through the surface of the skin.
This process is completely painless, of course, as it uses only light, and the results are displayed clearly on the screen.
We hope our tips have inspired you to take active care of heart monitoring and protecting your heart health. We wish you every success in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, from the bottom of our hearts!
