3 Surprising Things That Affect Your Heart Health
Heart disease has remained the leading cause of death in the U.S. for nearly a century now. Over time, we’ve accumulated a great amount of knowledge on the main risk factors and behaviors that contribute to poor heart health — from inactivity and diet to smoking and stress. But these aren’t the only causes of heart disease. In this blog post, we’re highlighting three lesser-known contributing factors of cardiovascular disease and tips for using them to promote heart health.
Dental Hygiene
Dental health is often seen as a reflection of overall health — but there’s a strong connection between dental health and heart disease in particular. Poor dental hygiene results in inflammation and disease in the gums. In the presence of gum disease, bacteria in the mouth can travel into the bloodstream and cause inflammation in blood vessels, contributing to atherosclerosis and heightening the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Wave Health Tip: Floss and brush your teeth everyday to prevent gum disease, and stay on top of routine dentist visits to identify emerging issues early.
Sleep
Sleep plays a major role in keeping your heart healthy. In fact, not sleeping enough puts you at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease regardless of your age, lifestyle habits, and other risk factors. So how much sleep should you be getting a night? Experts say that adults should get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night. This allows a person to go into multiple cycles of REM and non-REM sleep. Within non-REM sleep is a stage of deep sleep that helps restore the body both mentally and physically. Getting more of this type of sleep each night wards off health risks like high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar that can lead to diabetes, obesity, and heart failure.
Wave Health Tip: Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep most nights by making sleep hygiene a priority. If you’re having trouble sleeping or experiencing symptoms of sleep apnea, take action by consulting your physician.
Grief & Loss
The expression of having a “broken heart” is actually rooted in some truth. Feeling an intense emotion like grief over a long period of time is associated with high blood pressure and heart attacks. Broken heart syndrome, or stress cardiomyopathy, can actually cause heart attack symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath solely from the adrenaline release of feeling an intense emotion. ECG results of those with broken heart syndrome mimic those of an actual heart attack, just without any artery blockages or blood clots.
Wave Health Tip: Intense emotions like grief are often difficult to avoid. Do your best to cope and if you experience heart attack-like symptoms, call for emergency medical help immediately.
All-in-all, keeping your overall body and mind healthy in turn keeps your heart healthy. Pay attention to your diet, physical activity, and harmful substance intake to have the biggest impact on your heart health, and take these tips into consideration to improve your wellbeing even further.
