Heart Health Should Be a Priority Every Day

Heart health should be something that your elderly loved one focuses on all year round and not just every once in a while. There are so many senior citizens who struggle with heart disease and other heart-related conditions. While some heart conditions are genetic, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still things that can be done to improve overall heart health. If your elderly loved one needs help making healthy lifestyle choices that can improve their heart, be sure to share these tips with them regularly. When you can’t be there to ensure your parent follows through, an in-home care provider can step in and help your parent make positive steps toward improved heart health.

Moving Should Be a Priority

One of the leading reasons for heart health issues in the elderly is lack of movement. Studies show that living a sedentary lifestyle is one of the most common causes of heart disease and heart attacks. Luckily, this is something that can be easily changed. If your elderly loved one really isn’t an active person right now, they don’t have to jump up and run a marathon. You and home care providers can get them moving by starting to have them take a short 5 to 10-minute walk each day. They can slowly increase the amount of physical activity they get daily until they are at a healthy amount of about 30 minutes a day.

Eating Heart-Healthy Foods

Another one of the ways that your elderly loved one can take care of their heart is by eating a heart-healthy diet. This is one of the keys to living a healthy, happy, and longer life. Studies show that senior citizens who avoid trans fats that are commonly found in margarine, fried fast foods, and packaged goods have much better heart health than those who don’t. This doesn’t mean just because your elderly loved one eats fast food once a month they are going to have heart disease. It just means the more they can avoid it, the better their heart health could be. If your elderly loved one is looking for someone to make this lifestyle change with them, maybe it is something that you could consider for your own heart health, too.

Sleeping Well at Night

Does your elderly loved one seem to take a lot of naps during the day? If so, does this keep them up at nighttime? Maybe there is another reason they aren’t sleeping well at night. Did you or your elderly loved one know that sleep issues are one of the main causes of heart health problems in the United States? If your elderly loved one isn’t sleeping well, now would be a good time to figure out why, so they can hopefully fix the issue before it causes problems with their heart.

Conclusion

These are some of the many different things that should be considered when it comes to your elderly loved one’s heart health. The more of these things that you and in-home care providers can help your elderly loved one to stick with, the better it can be for their heart health.

Sources
https://health.gov/myhealthfinder/topics/health-conditions/heart-health/keep-your-heart-healthy

If you or an aging loved one is considering in-home care in Greenfield, IN, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care today. 317-550-1276