3 Underrated Tips To Prevent Heart Disease, From A Cardiologist

How should you care for your heart health? Perhaps you immediately think of cardio workouts to get your blood pumping and exercise those heart muscles or maybe a clean Mediterranean diet to prevent plaque buildup in your arteries.

"The most important metric is how well you sleep," says Twyman. "That's when your mitochondria are recovering. If you don't heal your mitochondria at night, it almost doesn't matter how well you eat or how much you exercise; your body has broken mitochondrial engines, and you're not going to make energy as efficiently." 

When you sleep, your body goes into "repair mode," focuses on cellular rejuvenation, and your brain flushes out waste. It's like you're charging up your batteries for a long day ahead, and according to Twyman, that recharge is essential for mitochondrial (and cardiovascular) health. "If you have chronic fatigue, you're just dragging all the time, your mind is foggy, you get chronic infections all the time… That's a sign that your mitochondria are not efficient at making energy for you," he explains.

It's no wonder studies have shown that sleep habits play a role in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). One study found that short sleepers (aka, those who slept less than seven hours each night) had a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.

On the subject of sleep, Twyman also stresses the importance of living in tune with your circadian rhythm. Your circadian biology is so significant for overall health, in fact, that he even considers it step No. 1 on the road to optimal well-being. "Your circadian biology dictates how your nutrients get processed in your system," he explains. "So you have to get your circadian biology right first." 

That said, in addition to setting yourself up for a good night's sleep, he also recommends getting natural, bright light first thing. "The morning sun hits the receptors in your eye called melanopsin. That blue light detector tells the suprachiasmatic nucleus1 in your brain that it's daytime, and you start making different hormones and neurotransmitters to wake you up for the day. Then when the sun sets and that receptor doesn't see blue light anymore, the body knows it's nighttime. Cortisol will start dropping, melatonin will start to rise. That cascade has to happen to have optimal health," he notes.

In terms of cardiovascular health, we know that cortisol has a significant effect on your thyroid hormones, which affect the metabolism of the food you eat. When cortisol drops in the evening, your metabolism simultaneously slows down, which makes it more likely that your body will store the food you eat as fat.

The protein topic can get tricky: If you're familiar with the cardiovascular health conversation, you probably know that too much red meat has been associated with cardiovascular risk, depending on your biology. That's why many experts recommend eating plant-based if you have a higher risk of CVD. However, "getting enough protein is critical," says Twyman, but getting enough protein can be difficult without adding animal sources.