We all know how important it is to keep our heart as healthy as possible in order to keep it beating strong for years to come. However, did you also know that having a healthier heart, especially as a young adult, can help to improve your cognitive health later in life?

Read on as our team at AFC Urgent Care North Carolina shares some insight into how heart health and brain health are linked—and how you can keep both healthy!

How Is Heart Health Linked to Cognitive Health?

When you have risk factors like high blood pressure and high glucose levels, it won’t only cause problems for your cardiovascular health, it can also cause issues with cognition in older adults.

It has been found that the same risk factors that play a role in heart disease, such as obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, can also put you at an increased risk for dementia, memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. So, protect your heart and your brain at the same time!

Ways to Improve Your Heart Health

• Get moving.
• Quit smoking.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Eat heart-healthy foods, such as fatty fish.
• Don’t overeat.
• Find effective ways to manage stress.

What Habits Can Damage My Brain?

Our habits play a key role in our health, both for good and for bad. For one, when you eat too much salt, it can cause cognitive deficits, and it also increases your risk of both cognitive impairment and stroke.

Not getting enough sleep can also harm the brain, since it doesn’t have the time needed to recover and restore itself each and every day. Loneliness and eating too much food, especially those foods with high salt and sugar content, can also put your cognitive health at risk.

Ways to Increase Your Brain Power

• Quit smoking.
• Have good relationships with others and yourself.
• Think positively.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• Eat well.
• Meditate.

In order to improve your health, you need to know where your health currently stands. Visit one of our AFC Urgent Care North Carolina locations today in order to gain a better understanding of your health and steps you can take to improve it.