CardiAction Lifestyle
Recommendations

COHORT 1

Arterial Flexibility

SummaryLifestyleExerciseNutritionSupplementsRecommended References

Congratulations for taking a pro-active approach to your health and well-being.

Your PWA results have displayed that your blood vessels (the ‘pipes’) are showing signs of inflammation. This may decrease flexibility in the artery wall and can lead to arterial stiffness. Your heart is pumping at a healthy pressure and you should aim to maintain this.

This inflammation is indicated by your Central Augmentation Pressure being above the CardiAction Target Range (CTR).

Your blood pressure is healthy and should be maintained.

The following recommendations are based on extensive scientific literature and are intended as ‘general guidelines’ which can help lower your Central Augmentation Pressure and therefore improve the flexibility of your arteries.

In addition to following these recommendations, you may also benefit from learning more about Inflammation and Arterial Stiffness in the CardiAction Healthy Tips section of your CardiAction App.

DISCLAIMER:
Prior to making any significant nutritional, exercise, or lifestyle choices it is always advised to seek appropriate medical advice from your healthcare practitioner.

Lifestyle

As well as addressing your nutrition and exercise, it’s important to recognise that your lifestyle can also influence your blood pressure. The following lifestyle suggestions should be considered to make improving your cardiovascular health maintainable.

Recommendations

Minimise Alcohol Intake

Both red and white wine are more beneficial than high-sugar options (e.g. beer/artificial mixers with spirits). Red wine is particularly high in antioxidants and is a healthier choice, if you enjoy an alcoholic drink. However, whilst wine isa preferable alcoholic choice, the consumption of any alcohol has a damaging impact on your health.

  • Aim for no alcohol intake apart from the occasional social drink and opt for a healthier option wherever possible.
Managing Stress

An appropriate amount of stress is helpful in your life – it increases neuronal activity which allows you to focus more intensely on pressing topics. However, it’s when there is too much stress that it becomes problematic to your health and can lessen your ability to productively engage in day-to-day activities.

Prolonged, unresolvable stress is associated with hypertension and therefore understanding and managing your stress levels is important to improve your cardiovascular health. Research has specifically found that practising mindfulness can reduce your blood pressure and inappropriate inflammatory response.

Stress levels can be managed by:
  • Mental rest/recovery (e.g. relaxing or mediating)
  • Social connection
  • Enjoyable exercise and physical intimacy
  • Restorative sleep
Avoid or Stop Smoking

Smoking damages your arteries and increases blood pressure. If you currently smoke, this is one of the first lifestyle changes you should make to decrease your risk of developing CVD and improve the flexibility of your arteries.

A good initial step is to begin cutting back on cigarette consumption or switching to an e-cigarette (which also carries health risks). Having the appropriate support and enrolling on a stop-smoking program is helpful.

Exercise

Aerobic exercise is a great way of improving vascular health and it can be achieved through different methods of exercise. It’s important to note that it is possible to overtrain, where by you do so much exercise that your body cannot clear the waste product of energy generation which can cause an inappropriate inflammatory response.

A good measure of whether the exercise your doing is positively impacting your cardiovascular health is to see a reduction in your resting heart rate.

Attention:
If you have been identified as high risk and advised by your Screener to seek medical advice, please talk to your health care provider before radically altering your exercise regime.

Recommendations

Cardiovascular conditioning and other wise referred to as ‘cardio’ – e.g. you’re burning oxygen to generate energy. It’s important to find a form of cardio that you enjoy and don’t feel like it is a chore. Different examples of cardio are –cycling, swimming, running, brisk walking, dancing, tennis, hill walking and high intensity interval training (HIIT).

The target heart rate zone for aerobic exercise is different for each person and this is between 65-80% of your maximum heart rate. You can calculate your maximum heart rate by deducting your age from 220 and then multiplying this by 0.65-0.80.

You can calculate your maximum heart rate by deducting your age from 220 and then multiplying this by 0.5.If your resting heart rate is higher than 50% of your maximum heart rate you should discuss this with your doctor.

Example
If you are 65 your target heart rate zone for aerobic exercise would be 101-124 bpm:
(220 – 65) x 0.65 = 101
(220 – 65) x 0.80 = 124

You should aim to be in this aerobic zone for up to 20 minutes 2-3 times a week.

If your resting heart rate is higher than 50% of your maximum heart rate you should discuss this with your doctor.

High Intensity Interval Training

HIIT training comprises of short, dynamic exercises which targets cardiovascular health, fitness and strength. In addition, the combination of exercises you use in your HIIT workout can be unique to what you enjoy and also your ability. Exercises you may like to include in your HIIT workout are:

  • Star jumps
  • press-ups
  • squats
  • lunges
  • mountain climbers
  • sprints
  • resistance training (including weights/resistance bands)

The HIIT ratio is the amount of time spent working vs the amount of time spent recovering, also known as the work-to-recovery ratio. A good ratio for improving cardiovascular health is 8 seconds work to 12 seconds recovery. Doing 20mins 3x/week of HIIT outperforms 1hr 5x/week of standard exercise regime.

Nutrition

Your diet influences your inflammatory response and your blood pressure. Both excesses and deficiencies in your nutrition may be contributing to your inflammatory response which increases arterial stiffness and specifically aortic stiffness can raise your blood pressure. Fortunately, a great deal of this inflammation can be reversed through targeted dietary choices.

Recommendations

Suggested Foods
Omega-3

Omega-3 is a fatty acid that is vital for your body to generate a healthy and appropriate inflammatory response. It is most easily acquired through consuming marine based foods but can also be found in a lower availability in plant products. If you do not consume at least 5 servings of seafood a week you could consider taking an Omega-3 supplement (also available in vegan form).

  • Fish - salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, shellfish, and tuna. 5 serves / week
  • Hemp seed oil, walnuts, flax seeds as alternatives to fish (however this requires your body to convert ALA to EPA/DHA which may result in less omega-3 being available).
Nitrate & Sulforaphane Rich Vegetables

Nitrates are a vasodilator – which means that they open and expand the vascular space and help reduce arterial stiffness.

  • Beetroot, spinach, celery, radishes, carrots and green beans.
  • Allium & brassica vegetables – garlic, onion, leeks, cauliflower, kale etc.
High Fibre Intake

Fibre allows good digestion by allowing your gut-biome to metabolise food effectively. If you don’t extract the nutrients that you need from your food this can result in nutrient deficiencies – therefore a high quantity of fibre in your diet helps your body to get the anti-inflammatory benefits most effectively from your food.

  • Psyllium husks, fruits, legumes, hummus, chickpeas, split peas, lentil, black beans, artichokes, peas, oats, bran flakes, and chia seeds (aim to consume 18+grams/day).
Avoid refined sugars

Refined sugars are regarded as highly inflammatory and should be avoided. A good substitute if you enjoy a sweet treat is switching to chocolate which contains 70%+ cocoa. Dark chocolate also has additional health benefits and is beneficial for your cardiovascular system.

Supplements

You could consider taking dietary supplements if you think that your current diet is not providing the optimum levels of nutrients you need. More information about supplements can be found on the CardiAction Supplement Guide (on the CardiAction Healthy Tips section of your CardiAction App) and by visiting your local pharmacy.

Recommendations

The most beneficial supplements for reducing inflammation and blood pressure are:

  • Omega-3: Containing EPA, DHA or an EPA/DHA combination. May benefit from taking 2-4 grams/day.
  • Vitamin-D: May benefit from taking 400-2,000 International Units/day.
  • Magnesium: May benefit from taking250-400mg/day.
  • Potassium: May benefit from taking200mg/day.

Prior to making LENS changes and considering taking nutrigenomic targeting supplements, you would benefit from having an Omega-3 and Vitamin-D test to determine if your levels are low.

Knowing your Omega-3/Vitamin-D levels enables you to identify if these are drivers causing your arterial stiffness and allows you to further target this. CardiAction dry-blood testing is available on our website or from the pharmacy that you had your PWA screening in.

CardiAction Lifestyle Recommendations (Cohort 1)