Who doesn’t want to live longer???
Spend more time with your kids, your grand kids, your loved ones! Take up that pottery class!
Go into space!
Whatever you reasons, here are 7 tips to help your heart — and you — survive!
DON’T SMOKE
Duh. Come on, don’t do it. It doesn’t make you look cool and it kills you.
It’s the No. 1 cause of preventable death and sickness in the U.S.
BE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE
‘Aerobic activity helps your heart. It helps you keep to a healthy weight, reduces plaque buildup in the arteries and helps to lower blood pressure.’
No brainer.
KEEP YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE NORMAL
‘A person with a normal blood pressure level has a systolic blood pressure reading of 120 millimeters of mercury or less, and a diastolic blood pressure reading of 80 millimeters of mercury or less.’
MAINTAIN GLUCOSE LEVELS
Having chronically high levels of glucose, a kind of sugar, in the blood can lead kidney and blood vessel damage. Insulin, a hormone in the body, is responsible for helping the body’s cells to use glucose in the blood. However, if the body doesn’t have enough insulin or isn’t able to use it properly, then blood sugar levels may rise, according to the American Diabetes Association. High blood sugar is considered a diabetes complication.
You don’t want diabetes.
CHOLESTEROL LEVELS NORMAL
High cholesterol is a known risk factor for heart disease, because it causes hardening of arteries going to the heart, according to the National Institutes of Health. When part of the heart is deprived of blood, it could trigger a heart attack.
The optimum total cholesterol level is 200 or fewer milligrams of cholesterol per deciliter of blood.
You don’t want a heart attack.
HEALTHY WEIGHT
Follow your BMI!
According to the BMI chart, having a BMI of 18.5 or below is considered “underweight” and a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered “normal” or healthy weight. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and a BMI of 30 and above is considered obese.
HEALTHY DIET
Diets can vary, but what is and isn’t healthy is generally the same: don’t eat only Twix bars.
The thing is — this list is probably known by everyone.
So what’s the deal? Just a little more than 1 percent of the U.S. population abides by the seven key behaviors linked with a longer life!!!
WHY??
The info and solutions are there!
Are we all just lazy??
[Image via AP Images.]