How to prevent atherosclerosis naturally with simple lifestyle changes

Atherosclerosis, the accumulation of fat in the blood vessels, commonly known as “hardening of arteries.”

It is considered a major cause of cardiac disorders, leading to an increased rates of morbidity and mortality.

While medication and angioplasty becomes necessary in some cases, adopting healthy lifestyle habits can naturally minimise the risk of atherosclerosis.

Here are a few essential ways that can help prevent atherosclerosis.

Consume balanced diet

It’s essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle by focusing on your diet, eat a fiber-rich diet, with unsaturated fats, and antioxidants.

Experts have recommended replacing ultra-processed and deep fried food to healthy food, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish in your diet.

Limit saturated fats

To maintain your heart health, it’s recommended to avoid high consumption of saturated fats, as it increases LDL (bad cholesterol).

Replace your unhealthy diet with omega-3-rich foods (like salmon, flaxseed, and walnuts), fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy oils like olive oil.

Perform physical exercises

Regularly performing physical exercises can eliminate atherogenesis in multiple ways. Apart from its benefits on the lipid profile and blood pressure, exercise improves insulin sensitivity.

Several studies revealed that even modest activities, including brisking, walking, as little as 30 minutes every day protect you from cardiac disorders.

“Exercise strengthens our heart muscle, this improves our heart's ability to pump blood throughout the body, significantly improving blood circulation, allowing capillaries — body's tiny blood vessel — widen and deliver more oxygen to our body, minimising the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack,” says Sania Irfan, a cardiac expert from Karachi, Pakistan.

Maintain a healthy weight

Obesity increases strain on the heart and promotes fat accumulation in the cardiac arteries. Try to maintain your weight according to BMI to reduce the chances of cardiac-related issues.

Quit smoking

Numerous studies suggested that smoking is injurious to health as it poses a significant threat on your life by damaging blood vessels and accelerates plaque formation.

Tobacco intake and smoking predisposes to atherosclerosis and Coronary artery disease. Even reduced levels of smoking afflicts your health leading to a range of adverse outcomes.

Smoking increases the level of LDL (bad cholesterol) and decreases circulating HDL (good cholesterol) levels.

Quitting it can help maintain cardiac health.

Reduce chronic stress

Long-term stress can harm the heart by increasing blood pressure and raising the risk of heart attack or stroke.

“Heart muscles are affected by stress, long term or chronic stress can trigger inflammation in the body which can lead to plaque buildup in arteries, prolonged stress is linked to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke,” Sania stated.

She continued, “Whenever you feel stressed, your body releases hormones like Adrenaline and Cortisol. These trigger a "fight or flight" or sympathetic response—your heart beats faster, your blood vessels tighten, and your blood pressure rises."

Chronic stress from work can lead to high blood pressure, cause poor eating habits and disturb sleep.