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Show your heart some love this February

Did you know that almost a third of UK adults have high blood pressure? And that a staggering 7.6 million adults are living with heart or circulatory disease?1

An inactive lifestyle can increase your risk of heart health problems, so how can you keep mobile if you are experiencing pain from conditions like osteoarthritis? We take a closer look at the risks of heart disease and provide some tips for keeping your heart healthy.

Cut out paper hearts to demonstrate heart health

Risks of developing heart disease

Heart disease occurs when fatty deposits build up in the arteries. This can lead to serious issues like heart attack, stroke, and heart failure. Your risk of developing heart disease may be higher if you:

Keeping active when you have joint pain

The NHS recommends 150 minutes of exercise a week, which is about 25 minutes a day. Brisk walking (walking faster than a stroll) is an excellent form of cardiovascular fitness. It also provides the added benefits of fresh air, vitamin D from sunlight, and being around nature. Here are a few things you might consider if you are getting active but experience joint pain:

A heart shaped bowl full of berries

Rethink your diet for heart health: the facts about fats

Fat is needed in our body for energy, keeping warm, regulating hormones and to help absorb vitamins A, D and E. The fats we consume from our diet can affect our cholesterol levels which is a fatty substance in our blood. There is ‘good’ cholesterol (high density lipoprotein) that helps the liver flush out the bad cholesterol from the body, and ‘bad’ cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) which, in high levels, can raise your risk of heart disease and stroke.

There are 4 different types of fats in our diets:

Looking out for these fats on nutrition labels when shopping and swapping them for healthier alternatives, can help improve diet. There are even nutrition tracking apps like MyFitnessPal and Nutricheck that allow you to monitor how much saturated fat you consume in a day.

Remember, with good diet choices and a more active lifestyle, the risk of heart disease can be lowered, and high cholesterol can be reversed. Send some love to your heart, and make a change today for better heart health.


References

1 British Heart Foundation Factsheet August 2022


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