Love your heart: simple steps to keep your heart healthy and strong

By Dr Meredith Taylor, Medical Services Manager at MLC Life Insurance. Your heart will love you longer with these simple lifestyle changes.

Let’s chat about affairs of the heart. And no, not Harry and Meghan... I’m talking about your heart – that fist-sized muscle which beats about 100,000 times a day to continuously push five litres of blood around your body1.  

It’s easy to take that hardworking ticker for granted, but really you shouldn’t. Heart disease is a leading cause of death in Australia, accounting for 10% of deaths in 20202.  It’s pretty obvious that avoiding heart disease is important.

We use heart (or cardiovascular) disease as an umbrella term for coronary artery disease, which can result in heart attacks, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) and other conditions that affect the heart’s muscle and valves.

There are genetic and lifestyle factors that increase your risk of getting heart disease. Although you can’t change your genetic risk for coronary artery disease (sorry!), the lifestyle choices you make can do a lot to keep your heart healthy.

Something to be aware of, right off the bat, is that if you have an immediate family member (parent or sibling) who has had a heart attack, stroke or was diagnosed with heart disease before the age of 60, you’re considered at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

That means you need to take extra care to look after your heart in your day-to-day life, and make sure to have regular check-ups with your GP.

But even if you don’t have a family history of heart disease, you should keep an eye on things such as your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which affect your heart health.

How to have a healthier heart

As the saying goes, prevention is better than a cure. If you make healthier lifestyle choices, such as exercising regularly, eating well and not smoking, you might be able to reduce your risk of developing heart disease by up to a whopping 80%3, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.

Here are five choices you can make for a healthier heart, and four things you need to keep an eye on.

Five lifestyle choices for a healthy heart

You’ve probably come across these before, but since lifestyle-triggered heart disease is still a major cause of death, it bears repeating. And even if you’re not worried about your heart, remember that healthier lifestyle choices also help protect you against other illnesses, both physical and mental. And they’ll help keep your body strong as you age!

1. Eat for your heart

Science still says the Mediterranean diet is one of the best choices for a healthy heart. Why? Because it emphasises lots of vegetables and healthy fats, both things which actively make it easier for your body to go about the business of living. Here’s a quick refresher:

  • Eat mostly plants. Go for lots of colour and variety, and don’t neglect your legumes.
  • Choose wholegrains over refined grains.
  • Include small, regular serves of nuts, seeds, and olive oil.
  • Have moderate amounts of lean poultry and dairy.
  • Have fish twice a week, preferably oily fish (salmon, tuna or sardines).
  • Eat small serves of lean red meat only occasionally. (Research suggests just one to three times a week is enough.)
  • Avoid processed foods entirely or have them as an occasional treat.
  • Drink alcohol responsibly and in moderation4.

2. Avoid smoking

We all know now that smoking’s terrible for you. But I will remind you that medical science considers vaping to also pose a risk to your health.

3. Exercise regularly

Even small amounts of physical activity, such as a brisk 20-minute walk each day, reduces your risk of heart disease. Experiment to find out what you enjoy and start gradually. You can build up to the recommended exercise levels – and beyond!

4. Keep within a healthy weight range

The more there is of you – the heavier you are – the harder your heart must work to move your blood around your body. This can lead to all kinds of problems and is part of the reason why we health professionals bang on about body weight so much. The other reason is that being overweight often means you’ve got too much internal fat, which essentially clogs up the works.

Your GP is almost certain to use the Body Mass Index (BMI), which compares your height to your weight, to see if you are under or over the recommended weight for someone your age, sex, and height. BMI is a very useful starting point to understanding your weight and keeping it within a healthy range, but it’s also not definitive. Visit the Heart Foundation here to learn more.

5. Connect with the world around you

We don’t all interact with the world the same way, but as humans, we’re almost always healthier and happier beings if we have purpose and healthy emotional bonds.

Build loving relationships. Support and be supported by your family and friends. Get involved in community events. Mentor young people. Build nesting boxes for parrots. It’ll be different for everyone, but what’s important is that you have connections to the world that satisfy and support you.

Four risk factors to keep track of

When you ask your GP about heart health, they should check or ask about these key indicators. Once you know them, you can keep an eye on your heart yourself with the CVD Calculator to calculate your risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next five years.

  • Blood pressure: Regularly check your blood pressure from early adulthood. Ideally, it should be less than 120/80.
  • Blood lipids: Guidelines recommend adults over 455 (35 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) should have a cholesterol check every five years. If you have a family history of high cholesterol, heart attacks, heart disease or stroke, your GP may recommend more frequent tests.
  • BMI and waist measurement: In general, the higher your BMI, the greater the risk for heart disease6. Waist measurement is an important indicator of the level of the fat deposits which cover internal organs and is a measure of your risk of heart attack. For men, the risk is greater for a waist circumference over 94cm and for women more than 80cm.
  • Blood glucose: This is particularly important if you have a family history of Type 2 Diabetes mellitus.

Does your sex matter?

A bit. To a certain degree, women are protected from heart disease before menopause, due to hormonal factors. But post-menopause, the risk of heart disease increases to be the same as men.

What’s more important to know is that the symptoms of heart attacks are often different in women. Men typically have crushing chest pain and radiation to the jaw or left arm. In women, there may be no pain and unusual symptoms like back pain, nausea, weakness, fatigue, cold sweats, and shortness of breath. Because the symptoms are different, women may delay getting treatment, so they’re statistically less likely to survive a heart attack than men. Learn more here.

Is COVID a factor?

Unfortunately, yes. The risks of heart failure, heart disease and strokes are noticeably higher in the first 12 months after catching COVID-19, particularly in younger people – those between 25 and 44.

Keeping your heart happy has always been important for a long and healthy life – but it’s more important than ever that you don’t take it for granted, no matter your fitness level, age, or sex.

Footnotes

1 British Heart Foundation, How a healthy heart works, accessed 7 February 2023.

2 AIHW, What is coronary heart disease? 29 September 2021, accessed 3 February 2021.

3 Harvard School of Public Health, Preventing Heart Disease, August 2022, accessed 3 February 2022.

4 Alcohol and Drug Foundation, Alcohol and the Heart, 28 July 2022, accessed 2 February 2022.

5 Health Direct, Cholesterol and Lipid Tests, August 2020, accessed 2 February 2023.

6 Heart Foundation, BMI and Waist Circumference, accessed 2 February 2023.

‍

The feedback and testimonials provided by customers concern services that are now within the Vivo brand of services.

Reach out to Vivo

Frequently Asked Questions

Everyone has individual needs when it comes to health, wellness and recovery. That’s why we take the time to understand your needs and goals before getting you started with the right care and support services.

If you’ve got a question, view our FAQs first.

Getting started with Vivo

If you have an MLC life insurance policy or your employer/super fund has a partnership with Vivo then you can get complimentary access to Vivo*. Simply get in touch with our team, by completing the form below and we will reach out to discuss how we can help you.

*Depending on the partnership agreement there may be limits to which services you have access to through Vivo.

Send an email
support@vivowellbeing.com.au
Request a callback
Provide your details so a Vivo expert can be in touch.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
The Vivo brand is owned and operated by MLC Limited (MLC Life Insurance) ABN 90 000 000 402 AFSL 230694 Vivo services are not insurance (including health insurance) and the services do not replace your relationship with your current doctor, other treating health providers and health consultants.

The services that are available for your access depends on and may be limited by arrangements we have with the service providers we have partnered with and/or agreements we have entered into with the owner of the policy (such as the trustee or employer for group insurance policies).

MLC Life Insurance reserves the right to withdraw all or any of the Vivo services at any time or to change the terms on which a service is provided to customers. If your insurance is held within a super fund, or under a group plan, the Trustee or policy owner have the right to withdraw your access to all or any of the Vivo services. Further, in these arrangements, no liability is accepted by the trustee or group policy owner in relation to the Vivo services. Vivo services are provided by MLC Life Insurance, occupational rehab consultants, allied health and business coaches under contract with MLC Life Insurance and the following service providers we have partnered with.
  • MedHealth Pty Ltd (ABN 32 141 219 785)
  • CancerAid Pty Ltd (ABN 75 607 610 257)
  • Ipar Rehabilitation Pty Ltd (ABN 37 1042 343 17)
  • Beyond Pain Pty Ltd (ABN 37 741 376 019)
  • Guardian Exercise Rehabilitation Pty Ltd (ABN 27 159 858 349)
  • Specialised Health Pty Ltd ABN 99 631 179 09)
  • The Violet Initiative Ltd (ABN 95 267 224 727 ; ACN  143 224 293)
  • Bites Health Clinic (ABN 2280 129 0674)
Our service providers may change from time to time. MLC Limited uses the MLC brand under license from the Insignia Financial Group. MLC Limited is part of the Nippon Life Insurance Group and is not a part of the Insignia Financial Group.

The Vivo wellness webinars are made available to you by MLC Limited (MLC Life Insurance) ABN 90 000 000 402 AFSL 230694 as part of its Vivo program. Anyone can access these wellness webinars. The wellness webinars do not replace your relationship with and care from your current doctor, other treating health providers and health consultants. The presentations reflect the expertise and opinions of the specialists and professionals. MLC Limited accepts no liability for any information provided in the webinars.
Proudly delivered by MLC Life Insurance
Back to top