www.miruralhealth.org

When we all think of heart attacks, many of us picture big-city people. With their rushing around from meeting to meeting, never stopping to enjoy the fresh air, their levels of stress are bound to trigger heart attacks left and right. These are the only people who really have to worry about heart attacks, right? Well, this is not true.
Those of us living in rural areas need to have as much concern for our heart health as anyone living in any big city does. Sure, stress is a factor in heart disease and heart attacks.Didn’t catch that? This explains it. But there are many other factors we all have to worry about as well. One of the strongest factors in heart health is genetics. Unfortunately, this is one of the largest risk-factors in having a heart attack today. Now, a history of heart attacks in your family is not a death sentence.
This genetic factor can be counter-acted by living a healthful lifestyle. Daily exercise, especially cardiovascular exercise, is great for your heart and decreases heart disease and heart attack risks tremendously. Also, eat a healthy diet. Foods rich in antioxidants, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains reduce our heart attack risk. Fish containing omega-3 fatty acids have also been proven to help your heart. Eating just two servings a week of this fish has been proven to lower your heart attack risk by as much as one-third. Most important of all, for those with a family history of heart disease, along with everyone else, for that matter, is to not smoke cigarettes. If you do not smoke, don’t start. If you are a smoker, try everything you can to help you quit.
Eating a healthful diet, exercising, not smoking and keeping stress levels low are the best preventatives for a heart attack today. Whether you live in the big city, or in the “Boondocks.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 9th, 2011 at 12:00 am Both comments and pings are currently closed.