1. Down a Pint of Beer

Approximately 200,000 people in more than 16 research studies were analyzed by the Fondazion di Ricerca e Cura in Italy. The researchers found that men and women who drank a pint of beer every day had a 31 per cent lower risk of heart disease. That may be because beer raises your body’s levels of “healthy” high-density lipoprotein.

2. Watch a Scary Movie

In Saw, various organs get sliced and diced, but the increased heart rate triggered by horror movies may actually strengthen your heart, according to researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

3. Beans, Beans are Good for Your Heart

Eating a minimum of four servings of beans every week can reduce your risk of various forms of heart disease by 22 per cent compared to people who eat one serving of beans or less per week, reports the American Institute for Cancer Research.

4. Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand

The University of North Carolina found that holding hands or hugging someone for 10 minutes reduces your blood pressure. So go ahead, hug the person next to you. However, avoid any touching that could get you in trouble with the police.

5. Laugh

Laughing “is an active process and may have a direct impact on improving the lining of the blood vessels,” Michael Miller, M.D., director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology, tells the University of Maryland Medical Center. Time to stock your Netflix queue with reruns of Big Bang Theory!

6. Urinate More Often

In an unusual study conducted by the Taiwan University, researchers noted that having a full bladder creates stress that constricts your body’s blood flow by 19 per cent and increases your heart rate, which one of the study’s researchers says could be enough heart stress to cause a heart attack.

7. Sip Some Tea

While green tea gets a lot of positive press, black tea is also rich in antioxidants. Both teas can help reduce blood vessel constriction and protect your arteries.

8. Kill Your Neighbors

Noisy neighbors can be a downer, literally. A study in Germany found that people who lived where nighttime noises reached higher than 55 decibels were twice as likely to experience high blood pressure as those who had quieter evening surroundings. For the record, 55 decibels is the average sound level of a suburban street.

9. Start Your Day with Oatmeal

Oatmeal’s high fiber levels scrub your arteries clear, raise your levels of good cholesterol and reduce your levels of bad cholesterol. Make your breakfast even more heart-healthy by adding fiber-rich fruit such as a banana.

10. Stop Reading This Article

A study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that people who spent more than four hours a day sitting around in front of their computer or TV had a 125 per cent increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Know the perfect number when it comes to cholesterol, vitamins and…sex and sushi.

Some numbers are best left forgotten or unknown. Like, the number that girl scrawled on a bar napkin last night. Or the number of kids Michelle and Bob Duggar currently have. But other numbers are important to know, track and control — for your health, well-being and general state of happiness.

1. Cholesterol: 120-130 mg/dl

The most recent survey conducted by the National Center of Health Statistics found that 32 million Americans take statins to control their cholesterol. The first thing to do: buy stocks in those drug companies. The second thing to do: get your cholesterol levels tested. The ideal, healthy adult should have a total cholesterol number of approximately 120-130 mg/dl, and an LDL of 70 mg/dl.

2. Vitamin D: 400 IU

Vitamin D has benefits for everything from heart disease to depression. You may be woefully under the recommended daily intake of the “sunshine vitamin” if you live in an igloo or basically all of Canada. General studies have found benefits for daily intakes of 400 to 800 international units per day.

3. Sushi: 3 Rolls

If you’re pregnant or a child, step away from the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. Due to mercury contamination, many doctors and agencies recommend complete avoidance of sushi. If you are an otherwise healthy, average adult, many doctors recommend a maximum of one meal if the sushi is made from swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish or shark. If you’re enjoying low-mercury fish, such as salmon, many recommendations come in at around 12 ounces a week. Unfortunately, that’s like, just three average-sized sushi rolls. May I suggest the cucumber rolls instead?

4. TV: 0

In a 2011 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, doctors found that your risk of developing heart disease or type 2 diabetes increased by 15 percent and 20 percent, respectively, for every two hours of TV you watch per day.

5. Exercise: 20 Minutes

The American College of Sports Medicine suggests a minimum of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise, such as running or swimming, three to five times a week. Of course, more is usually better.

6. Sex: Lots

Apparently what feels good is good for you, too. A Duke University research report followed a group of Americans for 25 years and concluded that “frequency of intercourse was a significant predictor of longevity,” while a British study found that men who had two or more orgasms per week had a 50 percent reduction in their death rate over the course of a decade compared to men who had sex just once per month.

7. Blood Pressure: 120/80

A whopping 50 million Americans have high blood pressure. Scarily, 30 percent of them have no idea they do. High blood pressure numbers increase the risk of everything from kidney damage to heart failure. Ideally, your blood pressure should ring in at 120/80. One of the easiest ways to reduce your blood pressure: reduce dietary salt intake, lose weight, quit smoking and avoid alcohol. Speaking of which…

8. Alcohol: 1-2 Per Day

If you drink, doctors typically recommend a maximum of two drinks a day for men and one drink for women. But here’s the kicker: most people underestimate how much they’re drinking. To put it into perspective, one drink is a 12-ounce serving of beer (not a pint) and a 5-ounce serving of wine (and note that many wine glasses hold much more than this).

In a new study published in the Diabetes Care medical journal, researchers followed more than a thousand men and women in Sweden. They found that exposure to pthalates, a common chemical used in fragrances, was associated with increased blood sugar and an up to 30 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes (read the full study abstract here).

Besides diabetes, some medical professionals also worry that exposure to pthalates elevates your risks of other health problems, such as cancer. Avoid pthalates by taking a few lifestyle and dietary precautions today:

1. Stop using products that contain perfumes or fragrances. Aim for unscented products instead, such as unscented laundry detergent, unscented shampoo and conditioner, and natural beeswax candles instead of scented air fresheners.

2. Eat fresh, organic food. A study in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal noted that pthalate exposure was cut in half when people ate fresh food instead of packaged or canned food.

3. Avoid plastics. If you can’t do without them, check the recycle code on the bottom of the plastic item. Items stamped with a “7” or a “3” may contain higher levels of both phthalates and BPA.