HEART
With February being the month of love, as well as the British Heart Foundation’s Heart Month, we look at some simple ways to help you keep your ticker on top form.
ENSURE YOU DRINK LOTS OF H2O
Drinking plenty of water every day could lower your chances of heart failure, especially if you’re over the age of 65. Researchers at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in the US concluded that women should be drinking up to two litres of liquids a day to reduce the risk of heart problems and heart failure.
The scientists say they found a link between dehydration and cardiac fibrosis, which is a hardening of the heart muscles. They tracked the heart health and hydration levels of almost 12,000 people, of which around 1,400 developed heart failure over the course of the 25-year study. The researchers could tell how well participants were staying hydrated by their levels of serum sodium – the level of sodium in the blood. This increases as your body’s fluid levels fall.
Serum sodium levels are a predictor of heart failure and ventricular hypertrophy, as well as an enlargement and thickening of the heart. People with levels on the high end of normal by middle age were 39 per cent more likely to have heart failure.
In a separate analysis of nearly 5,000 70- to 90-year-olds at the end of the study, those with high-to-normal sodium at middle age had double the risk of hypertrophy, as well as a 54 per cent increased risk of heart failure, compared to those with low-to-normal serum sodium levels. For more on why water is good for you, see page 38.
Do lots of housework!
Okay, so this one might not sound so much fun, however, doing daily chores will help your heart in the long run and keep you living longer.
A 2022 study at the University of California San Diego found that people who are active around the house for four hours every day are 62 per
