How to Save Money on Heart Diseases

It’s rightly said – prevention is better than cure. And when it comes to preventing heart diseases which involves high treatment costs and expensive medications, the phrase is absolutely valid. People suffering from heart diseases face tough time in paying for the expensive treatment and sometimes have to sacrifice their life long savings even though they have health insurance to take care of. But despite of this, people are not willing to make life style changes which can keep heart diseases at bay which can save them money.

So what life style changes can help in preventing heart problems and directly save money on medications, supplements and surgeries:

• Physical Exercises: 30-45 minutes of exercises every day can prevent heart problems. Aerobic exercise, brisk walking, jogging, stretching, swimming, cycling should be a part of every person’s exercise regime. Although it is not possible to do all these exercises in a day, you can perform 2 exercises in a day.
• Diet Control: It is very critical for keeping cardiac health in control. As recommended by doctors, heart healthy diet reduces the risk of heart problems by nearly 70% as such diet keeps control on body weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels which are the major cause for heart disease. So what types of food should be taken to prevent heart diseases:

1. Healthy Fats: Almonds, walnuts, cashews are rich in nutrients and very inexpensive when compared to the costly medications for heart diseases. Due to the cholesterol lowering property, they are considered to be the most healthy fats for heart care. Soak almonds overnight in water and then take it in the morning before the breakfast.
2. Fiber: Eating fiber rich foods make people eat less and keeps stomach full. As recommended by the doctors, men should take 38 grams and women 25 grams of fiber everyday. Fiber rich foods are apples, avocado, bananas, kiwi, orange and vegetables include mushrooms, spinach, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage to name a few.

• Yoga: Yoga helps in reversing as well as prevent heart diseases as it reduces cholesterol, improves heart rate, blood circulation, relaxes the body, eases palpitations which are key to better heart health. 30 minute yoga everyday is sufficient for prevention of cardiac ailments.
• Quitting Smoking: According to research, smokers have highest chance of getting heart diseases and is the major cause of cardiac diseases and it also invites other health problems such as asthma, cancer and others.
• Generic medicines: Generics are available in the market which helps to lower the cholesterol and blood pressure. For e.g. the generic drug named “Atenolol” for blood pressure costs Rs. 7.00 whereas the branded drug “Aten” for the same costs Rs. 23.80. You can find whole list of generic drugs for cardiovascular diseases on http://janaushadhi.gov.in/list_of_medicines.html. Refer Sr. No. 261-302 on this Jan Aushadhi web page.
• Look for alternate medicines: If doctor prescribes you any medicine then always ask without any hesitation on other alternatives and then compare prices for each by visiting medicine shops. If these medicines are to be taken for a long period, then it’s worth to look for cheapest medicines which can save good amount of money.  Also see cheapest heart surgery in India