Do you take time to take care of your heart? It’s easy to assume your heart will keep pumping away, regardless of what you do. However, your heart isn’t invincible. It relies on proper care and good habits that strengthen it every day.

While you may have some good habits, ultimately your heart needs relief from bad habits as well. If you worry about your heart health, you need to identify what bad behaviors to eliminate. Here are a few suggestions of some behaviors to cut. If you use our advice, you will get your heart on the path toward better health.

Not Exercising

Exercise too often becomes the thing you do tomorrow instead of today. However, your heart depends on daily exercise to strengthen the muscles that pump your blood efficiently. When you don’t exercise, your resting pulse and blood pressure increase. This can cause your heart and artery walls to wear down, increasing your risks of heart attack and stroke.

On the other hand, regular exercise will dramatically strengthen your heart. You only need 20 minutes of sustained exercise, like running or a fast-paced sport, to reach the level your heart needs.

Drinking Too Much

Drinking late into the night might look appealing, but drinking too much does no good for your heart. Too much alcohol increases the amount of fat and sugar in your blood. Alcohol increases weight and blood pressure, which in turn can cause heart failure. Perpetual intoxication can also lead to high-risk behaviors which put your general health at risk. Excessive alcohol consumption may result in driving under the influence, which not only endangers the lives of others but, according to Lawyer Ben Sessions, could lead to severe criminal penalties if you are caught. Depending on your age and weight, you should only be consuming one or two drinks daily.

Not Sleeping

You might be a workaholic. You might have insomnia. Or maybe you are just a night person. Whatever your reason, you might not get 5 hours of sleep every night. However, sleep gives you the key stress relief you need to cope with life. Without it, your stress levels can influence your heart health. Without proper sleep, your risks of coronary disease will increase significantly

Eating the Wrong Foods

Foods with high fat and sodium levels, such as red meat or fast food, increase the amount of fat in your flood. As a result, your heart works too hard to pump your blood. Enough bad heating habits will literally taking years off of your life. Make sure you get a balanced diet of fruit and vegetables in addition to carbs and meat.

When you take action to care for your heart, you make sure you can enjoy it for the years to come. Use our tips to avoid bad heart habits and start living healthier today.