What are the ways to prevent heart disease?

There is no secret recipe for the prevention of heart disease. The core is to keep an eye on all risk factors that can be controlled by humans, and by paying attention to the small details of daily diet, exercise, work and rest, and basic disease management, you can reduce the risk of disease by more than 80%.

I met a 42-year-old Internet practitioner Lao Chen a while ago. His physical examination at the beginning of the year showed that his triglycerides were twice as high and his blood pressure was stuck at the critical value of 140/90. The cardiologist directly calculated for him that if he stayed up late, ate takeout, and drank cold beer at his previous pace, the risk of coronary heart disease in three to five years would be 40% higher than that of his peers. He did not buy any of the popular heart-protecting health products on the market. He just drank one less cup of full-sugar milk tea every day, got off the subway two stops before get off work and walked for 20 minutes. When he stayed up late and changed his plan, he replaced cold beer with warm tea. Last month, all the indicators in the review basically fell back to the normal range. The doctor joked that his adjustments in the past six months were equivalent to "reducing 10 pounds of unnecessary burden" on his heart.

Don’t believe the saying that “a vegan diet will definitely protect your heart.” This point is currently controversial in academic circles. If you are a vegan but eat refined rice noodles, fried vegetarian chicken, and heavy pickles, you will increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases due to lack of high-quality protein and Omega-3. If you really want to adjust your diet, you don’t need to eat boiled vegetables all the time, add half a spoonful of salt every time you cook, eat enough deep-sea fish twice a week, and eat less processed meats such as sausages and bacon three to five times a month, you will do better than most people.

There is no need to do high-intensity exercise just to protect your heart. Last week, a 28-year-old boy was admitted to the emergency department. He walked more than 30,000 steps in one day to top the list of steps in his circle of friends, which directly induced arrhythmia and sent him to the hospital. If you really want to move, you don’t have to run a marathon or lift heavy weights. Just do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every week—that is, to the point where you can speak normally during exercise, but can’t sing smoothly. You can take a brisk walk after get off work, dance in the neighborhood, or meet up with friends to play badminton on weekends. Moving is better than lying down.

What many people tend to overlook is the management of basic diseases. Many people think that there is no need to take medicine if high blood pressure or diabetes has no symptoms. This is actually the most harmful to the heart. Just like the water pipes at home are soaked in high-pressure and high-sugar water for a long time, the pipe walls will harden and become brittle early on. The heart will have to work much harder than usual to pump blood. Problems will definitely occur over time. If you have underlying diseases, listen to your doctor's instructions and take your medicine on time. Don't reduce or stop taking your medicine casually. This is more reliable than any folk heart-protecting folk prescriptions.

As for whether supplementing Coenzyme Q10 can protect the heart, many people are asking. At present, the academic community has not reached a unified conclusion: for people who have suffered myocardial damage or have muscle soreness after taking statins, supplementation can indeed play a supporting role. However, there is not enough research data to support whether daily consumption of Coenzyme Q10 can prevent heart disease in healthy people. There is no need to spend a lot of money to buy imported products and pay the IQ tax.

When it comes to protecting the heart, it all comes down to small things. Next time you stay up late at night and want to order iced Coke with fried chicken, feel your pulse that is beating fast in your chest and remind yourself to rest for two minutes. Accumulating these inconspicuous little habits is the best protection for your heart.