Stepwise Approach To Cardiovascular Longevity
The heart is a fascinating organ. It is the key to life. Without it beating 24/7, we would simply die.
How could one little organ do so much and why do we treat it so poorly?
We completely take our hearts for granted and throw numerous toxins at them, yet it still beats on.
How can we maximize our cardiac output that promotes longevity, quality of life, and overall well-being?
Simple. We stay active, take time to breathe, and feed it good food.
Step 1: Identifying A Problem
Most people don’t know how to find their heart rate. They don’t know their blood pressure. They haven’t been seen by a provider in years.
The first step is a simple screen. Figure out how to manually count your heart rate. That easy process can tell you so much…and it’s FREE!
It will let you know if your heart is beating regularly (which it should), how fast it is beating, and if there are any irregularities with the electrical conductivity!
Literally, all from just feeling your pulse.
Without the proper knowledge of learning what our body is telling us, we will be blindsided when stuff starts to go wrong and feel like it came out of the left field.
Look at your feet. Do you see swelling by your ankles? Is your blood pressure elevated? Do you find yourself short of breath?
These are all serious symptoms that need medical intervention to prevent possible worsening of the condition and keeping our hearts nice and happy.
You need to know what you are looking for in order to identify a problem and correct it.
Is your resting heart rate elevated? Are you stressed? Have you been sleeping 7–8 hours? Is your blood pressure high? Are you experiencing anxiety about something?
We need to learn to speak the language our body does. It is constantly talking to us and we don’t like learning another language.
Many individuals are having those symptoms I just listed, but are doing nothing about it. Maybe some don’t know what it means. Perhaps some don’t even know they are experiencing those symptoms. Even scarier, some know they are having those symptoms and continue to ignore them.
Step 2: Taking The First Step
Much like the prior step, first identifying the issue is monumental. Next is taking the step to intervene and protect your heart.
Learn what those basic vital signs are and keep a journal for a few days. See if there are any patterns that you notice.
It paints a wonderful picture for the provider when you speak to them about your concerns.
Next- I would encourage you to evaluate your lifestyle and see if that is causing any undue harm to your ticker.
Stress is a real contributing factor to reduced heart rate variability and elevated blood pressure as well as a fast heart rate.
When our sympathetic state takes over, our cortisol levels remain elevated and that increases our heart rate and blood pressure due to a “fight or flight” response.
If we never get into the “rest and digest” portion of our nervous system, we can never heal, repair, and grow.
Identifying stressors can be a strenuous exercise in itself. Are the external stressors coming from within? Are they coming from your job? Your relationship? Your living situation?
Moving on from those stressors is a very difficult first step. But, immensely important in maintaining a quality of life that is well suited for you.
Improving our heart rate variability is a new concept to improving cardiac health. Heart rate variability is literally the variance of time between heartbeats.
For perspective, a healthy heart does not beat every 0.9 milliseconds every time. It is not a metronome, rather a wonderful organ that adjusts its beats and cardiac output depending on the stimulus it receives from our autonomic nervous system.
An increase in heart rate variability shows the heart is adaptable, agile, and functioning at its highest capacity. Contrary, a heart that is limited to no variability, elicits further investigation into lifestyle and dietary choices.
For example, an overweight individual that is not active will typically have a lower heart rate variability. This is because there are no external stimuli to tax the musculature of the heart to respond and adapt.
That person sits on the couch, looks at their phone, eats fast food, and doesn’t see the light of day unless they are forced to.
Someone who works out 3 times a week, goes for walks with their pets, tries to eat healthier foods, and sleeps well will have a much higher variance in the heartbeat.
Step 3: Preserving Cardiac Function
There are NUMEROUS ways to perform this next step. Literally, tons.
The first one would be to drop the electronics and get outside. Go for a hike, take a leisurely walk, wash your car by hand, do some yard work. All those examples require physical exertion. That is what our heart WANTS!
Remember, the heart is a muscle, it’s a pump and it’s a conductor. We have to fuel it in order for it to work effectively with all of its jobs!
Next, we need to manage our blood pressure. Avoid eating pre-packaged, processed foods and eat foods that don’t have a nutritional label on them!
<mind blown> right?
Simply doing that will give us all the appropriate macro and micronutrients we need to thrive!
Make sure your blood pressure is doing well by drinking enough water throughout the day (we are made of water people) and fuel your body with the appropriate fats, proteins, and carbs.
Take some supplements if you need help with lowering your blood pressure so your poor heart doesn’t have to work so dang hard!
A nice relaxed heart is a happy heart and lives for a long time!
For ideas on how to lower your blood pressure naturally- look through some prior articles as it is laid out in an easily digestible format.
The more inflammatory foods we eat, the more inflammation there is in our arteries. When that occurs, our heart has to work harder against a constricting blood vessel that loses its elasticity.
Picture yourself trying to roll up a garden hose that has been beaten up by the sun for the entire summer. It is brittle, stiff, and not really compliant when you try to roll it up as it is hardened in a specific shape.
Now picture you turning on the water and having some pressure go through the hose. That is pretty similar to what your heart has to go through when your arteries are laden with plaque, stiffness, and noncompliance.
It creates issues like clots, dissection, and cardiac failure. Our hearts don’t want to work any harder than they have to and we like to poison them with tons of chemicals and make it difficult for them to succeed.
What it always comes down to is what we put in our mouths. The amount of activity we get. Managing our stress and getting adequate rest.
Let’s not make it more complex or complicated than it has to be.
Act like a human. Like our ancestors did. Get outside in nature. Learn how to grow your own foods. Become active. Teach your kids how to play a sport. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Learn how to take charge of your health.
Remember, wealth is situational, wealth with knowledge becomes generational.
Change how your family tree grows by preserving it in the first place. At no other time in history did we have to worry about cardiovascular or metabolic health like we do now.
It is scary and we need to STOP listening to the masses that tell us grains are good and protein is bad.
Take care of your heart and your heart will take care of you.
Be strong. Be brave.
