As we get older, it’s normal for people to become more health-conscious and seek to make habit changes in order to improve our quality of life, particularly when it comes to our hearts. Furthermore, if you have a more than friendly relationship with alcohol, perhaps cutting back is something you’ve wanted to do.
Well, there’s a way you can kill two birds with one stone. There are seven habits you can adopt in order to improve your heart health that will also make it easier for you to lower your drinking.
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7 Lifestyle Changes That Can Help You Drink Less
Some of these changes are classics that you are most likely already familiar with, such as exercising, but a few might be new to you. The best lifestyle changes to improve heart health and lower your drinking are:
- Exercise
A good workout gets your heart pumping. As a result, your body uses oxygen more efficiently and your heart becomes stronger. This makes exercise one of the best ways to have better heart health. As well as lowering your blood pressure, exercise can also reduce the amount of fat in your blood.
If you haven’t been active for some time, it might be tempting to begin an ambitious exercise program, but it’s better to start small. For instance, taking short walks, such as those lasting 10 minutes, is a good place to start. You can gradually increase your workout duration to 30 to 40 minutes, four to five days a week. All this exercise will also improve your mood, which can help lower your desire to drink.
For substantial health benefits, experts recommend getting 2.5 hours of moderate physical activity per week. Before beginning or changing an exercise program, consult your healthcare provider.
- Manage Your Stress
Heart disease and heart attacks are both associated with high levels of stress and ongoing stress. Your heart may be further damaged by overeating and smoking as ways to cope with stress. Furthermore, alcohol impacts aging, so the more you drink the more you’ll feel the effects of time.
Make sure you exercise, share your concerns with family and friends, and find some quiet time for yourself every day to reduce your stress. Simple but effective steps toward a less stressful life include spending 15 to 20 minutes each day doing something you enjoy.
It is recommended that you have regular heart disease screenings starting at the age of 20. A wellness visit should include measuring blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and pulse at least every two years. In addition, cholesterol tests should be performed every five years for people at normal risk.
- Track Your Drinking
A great way to improve your health and manage your drinking is by being more conscious about it. A good place to start is looking at how much you are drinking, when and where, and with who (even if alone).
An easy way to notice how much you drink, and your relationship with alcohol in general, is to use a drink-tracking app, such as Sunnyside.
Being aware of what’s happening can help you understand your reasons for cutting back better, which can in turn increase your motivation and make the task at hand easier to handle. It’s often so much more than wanting to avoid a hangover.
- Be More Mindful About What You Drink
There are a lot of added sugars and calories in mixed drinks, so cutting back on those is a great place to start.
Out on the town? Ask your bartender to make your drink with half the amount of alcohol. It’s like ordering a half-regular, half-diet Coke. Increasingly, mindful drinking is becoming more popular, so you are probably not the first person to make this request. A good way to drink less is to order your cocktails with half shots, letting you enjoy your drinking for longer.
Another excellent way to stay hydrated and make the party last longer is to drink hot water systems in between your shots. Not only will this help you moderate your drinking, but it will also reduce the effects of the next day’s hangover.
- Aim to Lose Some Weight
We all know that losing weight is beneficial, but just one or two pounds can make a big difference in our health.
Researchers have found that losing just 5-10% of your body weight improves your metabolic profile if you are over your weight range. The result is that you will have lower levels of blood pressure and/or cholesterol if you have high levels. A great way to lose health is exercising, which as we mentioned before also helps the heart and with your drinking goals, making it a three for one.
Losing 1-2 lbs per week is fine, but you don’t want to lose too much weight too fast. The Mediterranean diet has been identified as one of the healthiest types of diet, as it contains a lot of fruits and vegetables, along with some meat, fish, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and a little red wine, but not too much.
- Change Your Diet to a Healthier One
A person’s diet can have a significant impact on their heart and blood vessel health. The right foods can help your blood flow more freely by keeping your arteries open. Some foods, however, may contribute to the narrowing of your arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks. For life-threatening health concerns visit urgent care Jackson Heights, Queens having that provide timely medical attention and take significant steps toward reducing the risk of heart-related issues and maintaining their well-being.
Drinking can often lead to bad decision-making, and your eating habits are usually one of the first aspects it impacts. A great place to get started is by following the guidelines of The American Heart Association (AHA):
- A wide variety of fruits and vegetables
- Foods prepared with little or no salt. Salty foods also make you thirsty, increasing your desire to drink, so cutting back on these will help manage your drinking too.
- Lowered intake of added sugars.
- Liquid non-tropical vegetable oils
Taking vitamins is also a simple way to support your heart health. For example, Vitamin D is an essential player in regulating blood pressure and preventing arterial damage. Vitamin B complex, including B6, B12, and folate, is helpful in managing homocysteine levels. Taking a fiber gummy can benefit your heart health by lowering cholesterol levels.
- Stop Smoking
Alcohol and heart health are not the only two things to worry about, there’s also smoking. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death, and not just due to lung damage. The tightening and narrowing of your blood vessels caused by nicotine can put a burden on your heart, causing blood to have a harder time reaching your heart muscle. It is also for this reason that smoking temporarily increases blood pressure.
As such, smoking should also be on your cutting block for habits to quit. Managing your drinking will help you cut back on your smoking as well, as drinking can increase the cravings for a cigarette.
Final Thoughts
Truth be told, a lot of the changes you can make to improve your health are the same old boring advice you’ve heard all your life: eat better, exercise, and cut down on drinking or smoking.
While these might not sound exciting, there’s a reason why we keep bringing them up. It just works. And if you are struggling to manage your drinking, you’ll find that implementing these changes in your life will make it much easier to do so.
