We all know that the key to a better heart health is exercise and a balanced nutrition with less fat and sugar and more fibre, vitamins and antioxidants. Aerobic exercise, specifically, is known to play a very important role in lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, maintaining our good health and the strength of our immune system and a healthy heart, as long as it’s combined with healthy eating.
I’m sure you know that an important indicator of our heart health is our heartbeat (1). Whether you count your beats by yourself or with a blood pressure meter, you may have an idea of your resting heart rate, which means how many beats per minute you can count, when you’re resting. You may have heard or read in the internet that a normal heart beat is anywhere from 60 to 100 beats per minute. The truth is, though, that any resting heart beat above 80 must alarm us.
Keep in mind that just a 10 beats per minute increase while resting is associated with 10-20% higher risk of premature death and there seems to be constant risk when our heart rate keeps rising above 60 per minute. What you need to do is check at times to see if your pulse is faster than the seconds of the clock. If you notice that your heart rate is constantly faster when resting, especially above 80 or 90 beats/minute, then you probably need to take some measures.
Research shows that men with no apparent cardiovascular disease, but a heart rate that reaches 90 beats per minute, have 5 time higher risk of sudden cardiac death when compared to those with slower heart rates at 60 beats per minute. What’s even more alarming is that a constant heart rate at 90 beats per minute could be as dangerous for our heart as smoking.
First thing that comes to mind so as to “fix” our heart rate is exercise. It’s true that exercise and especially aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, dancing etc) is healthy for the heart and heart rate and can be used as a treatment in case of unfavorable high resting heart rates (2). While our heart beats faster when exercising, which is normal as our muscles need extra oxygen making our heart pump faster, when we’re resting our heart rate must be as slow as possible (50-60 beats/minute), something that is noticed in people who are exercising and athletes (3). Research also showed that those who did aerobic exercise for 12 weeks, their resting heart rates dropped by three, something which is reversible when the exercise ceases (2).
Not so into exercise? There seems to be another way for healthy heart: beans! It seems that if you incorporate in your diet a cup of beans (or lentils or chick-peas) everyday for three months, you’ll have the same results as far as resting heart rate is concerned, as exercise. More specifically, there has been found that everyday consumption of beans can lead to a drop in heart rate about 3,4%, which is the same as if you spent 250 hours in treadmill! What’s more, consumption of beans improves control on blood sugar which is very important especially for diabetics.
So, why does this happen? Scientists are not exactly sure, but they assume that apart from the direct benefits of the fibre content and plant protein of beans, the increase in their consumption also means less animal protein in our everyday nutrition. Animal protein is known to be high in cholesterol and saturated fat, having a bad impact on our heart and vessels.
Make it a habit of yours and add a cup of beans, lentils or chick-peas in your meals everyday, to get their benefits. You can use them in your salad, in your sauces, you can mash them or you can enjoy them traditionally in their soup form. Choice is yours!
Resources
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787005/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306777/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667843/
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