Heart, blood and circulation
From your heart beat to your blood flow, our experts share information on conditions, symptoms and treatments. Plus, get advice to keep everything healthy and working as it should.
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Advice on your heart health
The truth about heart disease
Common questions about heart disease and what we can all do to reduce the risk of developing it.
Smoking and your heart
Find out how smoking can impact the health of your heart.
Six diet tips for a healthy heart
Have you ever wondered about the link between your diet and your heart?
Inside Health: A happy heart
Find out how to be proactive about your heart health. Our Inside Health series of live events and videos brings medical experts into your home, helping you stay informed and inspired.
Inside Health:
Heart health – your questions answered
Exercise | Nutrition | Being active
Watch in 4 mins
Dr Zoe Williams answers commonly asked questions about heart health.
0:04 So there are five things I think you should think about 0:07 If you're trying to maintain good cardiac health.
0:11 The first thing is if you are a smoker, it's 0:13 really important that you do everything you can to stop smoking.
0:17 We know that if you stop smoking 12 weeks afterwards, your cardiovascular 0:21 and circulatory health is already improved and one year afterwards 0:25 your risk of having a heart attack is half that of people who are still smoking.
0:30 You can use things 0:31 like nicotine replacement therapy and support groups to help you with that.
0:35 And vaping or e-cigarettes can be used to help you stop smoking.
0:39 But they're only useful if you're reducing the nicotine 0:43 sequentially with the intention to stop entirely.
0:46 E-cigarettes and vaping are not without risk on their own 0:49 and so really should only be used as a tool to help you stop smoking 0:53 and to come off of all nicotine products entirely.
0:57 Now not everyone smokes and there are other things that you can do 1:00 to improve your cardiac risk.
1:02 So the second thing to think about is eating well and maintaining 1:05 a healthy weight.
1:07 If you have a BMI over 30 or a waist circumference 1:11 over 80 centimetres for women or 94 centimetres for a man, 1:16 that means you're at higher risk of developing heart disease because you're 1:19 storing fat around your internal organs.
1:22 So losing between five and 10% of your body weight can reduce that risk.
1:27 And you can do that in a number of ways.
1:29 But there is a great diet that you can use that is known to not just help you 1:34 reduce body fat, but is also known to help cardiac health.
1:38 That's the Mediterranean diet.
1:40 The Mediterranean diet consists of healthy fats and oils, things 1:44 like avocados, olive oil, nuts, 1:48 healthy proteins such as fish and chicken, plenty of fruit and veg, 1:53 and most importantly, hardly any processed food.
1:57 So if you're going to do anything for your diet, think about introducing 2:01 a mediterranean diet.
2:03 Another thing to 2:04 think about when we're talking about diet is actually alcohol intake.
2:07 Lots of people don't think about this when they think about diet, 2:10 but what we drink goes into our stomach just like what we eat.
2:14 And drinking any alcohol can be risky, but certainly 2:19 drinking over 14 units a week will increase your risk of heart disease.
2:23 And there's a common misconception that red wine is good for your heart.
2:27 But I'm sorry to tell you that's not the case.
2:29 So 14 units a week about a bottle of wine or six pints of lager 2:35 or beer a week is your upper limit to keep your heart healthy.
2:41 The third thing to think about is to really understand 2:44 your personal risk.
2:46 And that's made up of things like your genetics, your family history, your gender, 2:52 and then modifiable risk.
2:53 So how active you are, what kind of diet you have, and whether you're a smoker.
2:57 Knowing your risk can help you manage your risk.
3:01 Which brings me on to the fourth point.
3:03 When we talk about managing your risk, know your health.
3:06 If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, 3:09 if you've got diabetes, then the best thing you can do to reduce 3:13 your risk of heart problems is to manage those conditions well.
3:17 And we know the more you know about condition, the more you understand 3:20 how it affects you, the better control you can have of that.
3:24 So speaking to your health care professional or looking 3:27 at trusted places for advice like bupa.
co.
uk, 3:31 you can find really useful information on how to manage those conditions 3:36 and the fifth and last thing and probably 3:40 the most important is staying active.
3:43 We know that the more active you are, the better it is for your heart.
3:47 We know that sitting down for long periods of time is not good for the heart, 3:51 so it's really important to try and introduce activity.
3:54 If you do have a sedentary lifestyle and carry on increasing that 3:58 as much as you can so you can walk every day, that would be amazing.
4:04 Walk further, walk longer.
4:05 You don't have to be doing 4:07 particularly strenuous activities to get benefits from being active.
4:11 But we know the more active you are, the better it is for your health.
4:15 So whether you've had a heart problem, whether you've got a family history of 4:18 heart problems, whether you are a smoker and you're just planning to stop 4:23 whatever you're doing, try and stay as active as possible.
4:26 That's one of the best ways you can maintain good heart health.
4:30 I hope you found some of that information helpful, relevant for you, 4:33 and you took away one or two things that you could do or try to help 4:37 maintain a healthy heart.
Inside Health:
Heart health – top tips for a healthier lifestyle
Smoking | Nutrition | Alcohol
Watch in 5 mins
Dr Petra Simic, shares her top 5 tips on how to maintain good heart health, including the effects of stopping smoking, following a Mediterranean diet and the importance of staying active.
0:04 So there were so many questions.
0:06 We couldn't fit them all into the show.
0:07 So I've got a selection of questions here that I'm going to answer now.
0:10 Does strenuous exercise do more harm than good at a certain age?
0:14 This is a really good question because in short, possibly it can do 0:20 as we get older, blood vessels are much less stretchy.
0:26 And if somebody has been very inactive and not done any exercise, 0:31 if you then go and do something very, very strenuous, all of a sudden, 0:35 in order to accommodate that exercise, 0:37 these blood vessels have to stretch and you know, you can cause injury.
0:41 So my advice always is to somebody who is inactive, 0:45 who's just starting out, start low and go slow.
0:48 So start with something.
0:49 You start with walking, 0:50 increase it to a brisk walk, gradually increase it to a jog.
0:54 The couch to 5K app is really good because it takes from walking to jogging.
0:58 But particularly people who are older, you know, just be reserved at the start.
1:03 Build your way up to strenuous exercise and then it's fine.
1:06 Can a vegan diet be good for heart health?
1:10 A vegan diet can be good for heart health.
1:13 It can also be terrible for heart health.
1:16 So it's not about the vegan diet.
1:18 It's it's about what you actually eat within that.
1:20 So you could eat French fries and Oreo cookies 1:24 and you would be eating vegan, but obviously 1:28 you wouldn't be eating a diet that is good for your health.
1:31 So so vegan can be healthy.
1:34 Being a omnivore can be healthy.
1:36 Being vegetarian can be healthy.
1:39 All of these diets can be healthy.
1:40 It's about what you put in, and it's about trying to eat good, 1:44 healthy fats, lots of fruit and vegetables and limiting 1:48 processed foods and foods that are high in salt and sugar as much as possible.
1:52 Does exercise have more impact on your heart at different times of the day?
1:56 Well, I think the important thing to say about exercise is just that you do it.
2:02 And if you're the sort of person that has the energy or has the opportunity 2:05 to exercise first thing in the morning, do it first thing in the morning.
2:08 If you feel that you've got more energy 2:10 in the evening and it helps you de-stress and wind down in the evening, 2:14 do it in the evening 2:15 or the middle of the day, it doesn't really make much of a difference 2:18 what time you exercise.
2:20 It's much more important that you do it.
2:23 Couple of additional things to mention, I think.
2:25 There are some additional benefits to exercising earlier in the day 2:29 in that when you exercise, particularly if you do muscle strengthening exercise, 2:34 it can help sort of boost your metabolism throughout the whole day.
2:38 So that can help.
2:39 But also people who have difficulty sleeping, 2:43 if you exercise in the couple of hours before you go to bed 2:46 at night, it can in some people mean that you're less likely to be able 2:50 to get off to sleep.
2:51 So, you know, if you sleep fine, it doesn't matter.
2:53 But if you're struggling with your sleeping 2:55 might be best to do it a little bit earlier in the day.
2:57 What's the best way to protect your heart when you have a sedentary job?
3:00 Now, I'm glad some discussed this because we talk a lot about exercise and activity 3:04 and getting as many minutes in where we get our heart 3:06 rates up and get a little bit out of breath.
3:08 That is important.
3:09 But what's also important is that we reduce 3:12 the amount of time we spend being sedentary.
3:16 So when you're at work, for example, if you work in an office, 3:19 there are little things that can make a difference 3:20 in making sure the wastepaper bin is too far away for you to reach.
3:24 So you've got to get up drinking loads of water, so you've got to pee more often.
3:28 How about rather than sending that email to the person 3:30 at the other side of the room, getting up and getting into the habit of actually 3:34 going to speak to them, but also standing more, 3:37 so standing meetings and just standing at your desk.
3:41 So if you were to stand for 3 hours a day, five days a week throughout the year, 3:47 by doing that, you'd burn as many additional calories in that year 3:51 as if you ran ten marathons because you do it so frequently.
3:55 Even though it's a small change, it adds up to a lot.
3:58 So hope you found something in that that's helpful for you 4:01 and good luck with looking after your heart.
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