Italian researchers found that having a resting heart rate above 70 beats per minute increases your risk of dying of heart disease by 78%.  Follow the tips below to drop your beats per minute (bpm) and improve your odds.

1.  Consume fish oil
This may be a surprise.  A UCLA study showed that people who took a 1-gram fish-oil capsule every day reduced their resting heart rates by an average of 6 beats per minute (bpm) after just 2 weeks.  Fish oil may help your heart respond better to your vagus nerve, which controls heart rate.

2.  Exercise
Run hard, don’t just jog.  Exercise increases your heart’s strength and efficiency, reducing the number of heartbeats you need to achieve good blood flow.  Interval training (go slow, then fast, then slow) can increase your heart’s stroke volume by 10%, but slower sustained running has no effect on it.

3.  Get massages
Regular massages may soothe a rapid heartbeat.  If you have a partner who will exchange with you that is great, and inexpensive.  If not there are plenty of professional masseuses and masseurs.

This and other relaxation techniques reduce your body’s production of stress hormones like adrenaline and norepinephrine that rev up your heart in the face of danger.

4.  Sleep soundly
The neighbor’s barking dog can wreak havoc on your heart rate, as will any other sudden sound that wakes you up.  If nothing else works, try ear plus that can shut out sound.

5.  Urinate when you feel the urge
Here’s another surprise for you.  The stress of having a full bladder steps up the heart rate by an average of 9 pbm.  When your bladder expands, it increases the activity in your sympathetic nervous system. This may cause your coronary vessels to contract forcing your heart to beat more often – all of which might boost your heart attack risk.

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