Well, there may be times when your heart had missed a beat or raced faster than Michael Johnson. This could have happened because you would have met the person of your dreams, or you would have got your dream job, or came face to face with your dreaded maths professor after you flunked the test. But I am going to talk about a different heart beat rate that you should consider seriously.
Scientists have found that higher the resting heart rate, higher the risk of death irrespective of a person’s fitness level. So what is resting heart rate? Heart rate is the number of heart beats per minute. For adults the normal resting heart rate may range from 60 to 100 beats per minute. If you have a lower heart rate at rest, then you can be rest assured that your heart is working efficiently and your cardiovascular health is great. If not, then be little more careful.
If a person has low levels of physical fitness, high blood pressure, obesity and high level of fats in blood then he may have a high resting heart rate. Scientists found that if there was 51 to 80 beats per minute then it increases the chances of death to 40 to 50%. Similarly 81 to 90 beats per minute doubled the risk of death. And the heart rate above 90 beats per minute tripled the risk. Hope I have scared you to death.
So how would you try to reduce your heart rate? First and foremost try to relax, meditate, do breathing exercises, maintain your exercise schedule, rest properly and concentrate on peaceful imagery. The foods that help to slow down the hear rate are calcium rich foods, magnesium rich foods and potassium foods.
Now, I think if I give some examples it would be more useful for you. Calcium rich foods include cheese, dairy products, molasses, tofu, broccoli, cabbage, kelp and oysters. Magnesium rich foods include tofu, wheat bran, pumpkin seeds, squash seeds and green leafy vegetables. Potassium rich foods include bananas, citrus fruits, tomatoes, and avocados Fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, lake trout, herring and sardines enhance your heart health.
Herbs such as lavender, kava kava and Valerian work their magic on the heart and slow it down. Caffeine which is a stimulant can increase the rate of heart beat. So reducing the amount of coffee you drink can work wonders for your heart. You are unique and special and your lifetime should be a purposeful one. So take good care of your heart.
Take care,
Swarnam
Photo by Boykung
Photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net
Take care,
Swarnam
Swarnam