Having good heart health is key for living a long and active life. Luckily, adopting a healthy lifestyle can help you improve your heart health if you’ve noticed early signs of heart disease.
Here at Champion Heart and Vascular Center in North Carolina, we help patients of all ages improve their heart health. If you’re curious whether your heart is in good shape, we’re sharing the top 5 signs of a healthy heart:
Having a sufficient amount of energy throughout the day is one of the top signs that your heart is in great shape. Why? When your heart is working as it should, this means that your blood is carrying oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. This helps fuel you with enough energy to stay alert at work and help you maintain a good pace during exercise.
If you suffer from chronic fatigue, this is a sign that you might be developing heart problems. However, chronic fatigue can overlap with many other health conditions, so it’s important to get evaluated at your local heart and vascular center. Your doctor can run the appropriate tests to discover the root cause of your low energy.
How you perform during exercise is a key indicator of heart health, but it’s important to see what happens immediately after exercise as well. A healthy heart will quickly reach a normal heart rate after intense physical activity.
Want to test this out yourself? After your next cardio session, immediately record your heart rate. Then record it again after resting for about one minute. Your heart rate at the one-minute mark should have dropped by about 20 beats per minute.
Your blood pressure is a measure of how much force your blood applies to artery walls when your heart beats. There are two parts to a blood pressure reading: systolic and diastolic. The top number (systolic) tells you the pressure of blood flow when your heart pumps, and the bottom number (diastolic) measures the pressure at rest in between heartbeats.
Ideally, your blood pressure should be around 120/80 or lower. Readings above 130/80 indicate a higher chance of having a heart attack or stroke. This is because high blood pressure can cause thickening of the arteries, which leads to a reduction in blood flow.
Your heart rate is another key reading that provides insights about your health. For most people, a normal heart rate falls between 60-90 beats per minute. However, ideal ranges are between 50-70 beats per minute. If you regularly do cardio exercise, you can achieve healthy heart rate levels as low as 40 beats per minute.
Those with heart problems often find themselves getting winded easily, even when doing mild exercise like walking. This is because a bad heart has trouble providing your body with the oxygen it needs to keep up during physical activity.
If you can breathe normally during mild exercise, this is a sign that your heart is in great condition. But if you need to stop and catch your breath frequently, we suggest visiting your local heart and vascular center for a checkup.
Champion Heart and Vascular Center offers world-class treatment for heart and vascular care. We provide a wide range of minimally invasive outpatient services, such as stress tests, ultrasounds, vein procedures, and more.
Contact us today to make an appointment at our offices in Henderson and Dunn, North Carolina.
