Use your head to save your heart

Lifestyle choices are the key to cardiac health from an early age.

We've often discussed the numerous heart diseases, their causes and treatments. What we forget is that the heart is like the skin "" it ages and weakens with time.

Now there aren't any anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle potions for the heart, but just a few healthy choices could keep you healthy and young through youth and old age.

Today, lifestyle is the answer in the quest for a healthy heart. So, whether or not you're genetically predisposed to heart disease, a few alterations in your lifestyle can easily overcome that hurdle.

But that is not what we're discussing here. Why wait for your heart to start showing signs of ill-health when you can keep it healthy from the very beginning?

A healthy diet and regular exercise should be your mantra. Often, though, people turn to this mantra when they start ageing "" which is a bit late.

Considering that cholesterol deposits begin in the heart at the age of three and become prominent by the age of 11, you may want to start inculcating healthy living in your children as you adjust your own lifestyle.

Dr Arun Chopra, consultant in intervention cardiology at Artemis Health Institute says, "You should start taking precautions when you are young and continue them as you grow older."

Keeping your heart young is really not very difficult. Feed your heart with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and, as a rule, avoid fried and oily foods. If you do use oil, make sure to use low-cholesterol varieties, and especially olive oil.

Unhealthy oils and oily food can lead to cholesterol deposits in the heart's arteries, forming clots that lead to heart problems later. Regular exercise will keep not just your body in shape, but your heart too. A brisk walk of 30 minutes on most days of the week is enough.

One of the most dangerous contributors to heart problems is smoking. Contrary to belief, cutting down on your cigarette intake won't help your heart, though it may help your lungs. To keep your heart smoke-free, you need to go smoke-free completely.

Explains Chopra, "If you go down from 15 to five cigarettes a day, it won't change anything for the heart. But if you go from five to zero, then it'll improve your heart condition drastically."

Remember, your heart will treat you the way you treat it. So, go healthy early and even in your old age you'll be able to boast of a young heart. To avoid your life becoming a heart-rending story, take good care of this vital organ now.