Why men are more likely to be heartbroken

Author: Cui Yihui, registered dietitian, master of medicine

Reviewer: Zhu Wenli, Professor and Master Supervisor, Peking University Health Science Center

It is said that men are stronger than women, but when it comes to their hearts, men are much more fragile than women. In this era of high pressure in life and fierce competition at work, feeling "heart-tired" is the real state of most men.

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Due to the difference in hormones, premenopausal women have a "heart protector" - estrogen, which protects the heart from injury. Without this protector, men's hearts are much more fragile and are at risk of cardiovascular disease at any time. Studies have shown that the risk of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged men is 2 to 5 times that of middle-aged women.

Three reasons for heartbreak

❖ Bad lifestyle habits : Poor heart function is mostly caused by unhealthy lifestyles, except for a small part due to genetics. Therefore, cardiovascular disease is also called lifestyle disease. Overweight, obesity, abnormal blood lipids, unbalanced nutrition, staying up late, insomnia, sitting for a long time, active or passive smoking, and drinking a lot of alcohol are all reasons for "sadness".

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❖Pressure and overwork : Being a woman is difficult, and being a man is no easier. You need to be devoted to your lover, teach your children patiently, be filial to your parents, be trusting to your friends, and do your best in your career. If you do this for a long time, you will inevitably hurt your heart and body.

❖ Emotional ups and downs : Excessive excitement and tension, or emotional instability, prone to extreme joy, extreme sorrow, rage, sadness, fear, etc., will cause vasoconstriction, increased blood pressure, and faster heartbeat, thereby increasing the burden on the heart, and in severe cases even causing cardiac arrest and sudden death.

●6 good habits to protect your heart

As mentioned above, the sub-health or disease state of the heart is largely caused by bad living habits. Indiana University in the United States conducted a heart disease-related study, which followed up 70,000 subjects for 20 years. The results were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2015. If you can stick to 6 good habits, you can reduce the risk of heart disease by about 75%.

❖Reduce long periods of sitting : Long periods of sitting may lead to many diseases, such as slowing down blood circulation and reducing the workload of the heart. Over time, this can cause reduced heart function, leading to cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial atrophy, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and coronary heart disease. Most office workers sit in front of their computers for 8 hours at work, and then sit in front of the TV or their mobile phones when they get home. Studies have found that watching TV for one hour can increase the risk of death from heart disease by 7%; those who watch TV for more than four hours a day have a 28% increased risk of heart disease. So as long as conditions permit, you must develop the good habit of standing up and moving every hour of sitting.

❖Moderate exercise : Studies have found that exercising for 10 minutes a day can effectively improve heart health. For most people, it is recommended to exercise at least 5 days a week, at least 30 minutes a day, and 150 minutes a week.

❖Control your weight : Obesity not only affects your body shape, but also puts a greater burden on your heart. It can also lead to myocardial hypertrophy and even cardiomyopathy. The earlier obesity occurs, the greater the damage to the heart.

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❖Quit smoking : Most people know the harm of smoking. Even cigarette boxes say "smoking is harmful to health". In 2014, a British Heart Foundation study found that smoking one cigarette a day would increase the risk of heart disease by three times. Clinical data show that among all patients with coronary heart disease, smokers are 3.5 times more likely to be diagnosed than non-smokers. Smoking not only affects your own health, but also those who are exposed to secondhand smoke. If you stay in the smoke exhaled by others for 30 minutes each time, three times a week, the probability of heart disease will increase significantly.

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❖Limit alcohol consumption : Excessive drinking can weaken heart muscle strength, causing irregular blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attack. China's dietary guidelines for residents recommend that women should not drink more than 15 g of alcohol per day, and men should not drink more than 25 g of alcohol per day.

❖Healthy diet and nutritional supplements

◇Eat more high-fiber foods such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; eat less high-sugar, high-fat, high-energy foods such as red meat, sweets, and refined white rice and noodles. This will help maintain blood lipid balance, keep blood vessels healthy, and thus protect the heart.

◇Reduce the intake of saturated fat foods and increase the intake ratio of healthy fat (i.e. unsaturated fat) foods, especially appropriate supplementation of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids derived from the body fat of deep-sea animals, which will help balance blood lipids, soften blood vessels and balance blood pressure.

◇ Regularly eat foods that can prevent thrombosis, such as black beans, natto, onions, tomatoes, broccoli, green tea (matcha powder), a small amount of red wine, etc.

◇Supplement nutrients or natural active substances that have the ability to scavenge free radicals, protect cardiovascular and myocardial cells from free radical damage, provide energy to the heart, and help the heart fight aging. For example: B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, lycopene, carotene, coenzyme Q10, tea polyphenols, etc.