Matters of the Heart

By: Melody Dizon

 

February being the month of the hearts, I feel it’s important to address all matters of the heart from keeping it healthy, with tips on diet, replacing bad habits with good ones, eliminating risks, increasing knowledge on prevention and expand our ability to manage stress. Every little bit of lifestyle change that is within our control can dramatically change the course of our heart health in more ways than one. Allow me to enlist those so we can substantially lower our risk of dying from heart disease or any related cause.

SLEEP

Did you know that poor sleep can worsen the risk factors for heart disease?

Too little sleep affects the hormones ghrelin and leptin, which influence appetite and metabolism. So sometimes even if we eat right and exercise, we can gain weight if we have too little sleep or have an undiagnosed, untreated sleep disorder. Poor sleep can also impact mood, which affects work and home life, and can lead to or worsen anxiety and depression, which are also risk factors for heart disease. Here are some suggestions to look into ways of improving our quality of sleep.

• Look into symptoms of possible sleep problems – do you wake up tired after a long night’s sleep? do you snore?

• Have a consistent bedtime routine – try to go to bed same time at night

• Keep potential sleep-stealers out of the bedroom – TV, lights and electronics are the worst offenders. Keep them out.

• Drink less, exercise more – Exercise during the day

• Know that sleep and heart health work both ways – Timing of medication administration can affect sleep

FOOD CHOICES

Do you know that there are certain foods that lower blood pressure?

Some good choices to balance nutritional intake are:

• Quinoa (use this versatile grain as you would rice)

• Broccoli, Kale, White beans

• Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi

• Raw cacao seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Nuts and seeds

• Olive oil, Avocados

• Halibut, Fatty fish, like salmon, trout and tuna

THE MORE YOU MOVE…

Do you know that the more you move the more your heart benefits?

The American Heart Association recommends just 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week. Losing even a little weight with exercise can help your heart big time. Researchers are finding that extra pounds can actually cause heart muscle injury.

• Get a Heart-Health Checkup Before You Lace Up

• Wake up a bit earlier and exercise before you do anything else.

• Park your car at the far end of a parking lot, so you have farther to walk to a building’s entrance.

• Build up exercise gradually

• Use a wearable fitness tracker to count your steps. Try increasing your daily steps by 500 each week with the goal of reaching 10,000 steps per day, a level that can produce many health benefits.

• Choose the stairs rather than the elevator

• Schedule some recovery time • Spend part of your lunch break walking • On bad-weather days, try walking indoors at a mall.

• Fuel Workouts Healthfully

• Listen to Your Heart

• Some common red flags during exercise include chest pain, excessive shortness of breath, or an unusual amount of fatigue or difficulty completing a workout Can my heart afford any splurges?

Yes, it can. Depending on what kind of splurges.

• Yoga. Pursue yoga, meditation, deep breathing It’s self-preserving. You’ll feel recharged. It will help keep damaging stress at bay.

• Relieve stress. Spend one-on-one quality time with your partner or friend or dog.

• Regular relaxing kind of physical exertion. i.e. sex, leisure walking so you get a double benefit: a little exercise and a lot of stress release.

• Or join a group fitness exercise which is much more enjoyable and makes one more accountable with their fitness commitment with their friends.

• Go out to eat. And yes, even treat yourself to some chocolate. Dark chocolate (at least 70 percent cocoa) is full of helpful antioxidants that protect blood vessels and can help blood pressure for a healthy heart. So, there are actually heart numbers that I need to know? Well at least someone, either you or your doctor. In this day and age, we must be proactive with our health.

• How many steps you take per day Rule of thumb is 10,000 steps a day, or almost five miles. Another one is to exercise 150 minutes per week.

• Your blood pressure A score of 120/80 is optimal, and 140/90 is normal for most people. Higher readings mean that arteries aren’t responding right to the force of blood pushing against artery walls (blood pressure), directly raising the risk of heart attack or stroke.

• Your non-HDL cholesterol Aim for a score lower than 130 mg/dL or, if you’re at a high risk of heart disease, lower than 70– 100 mg/dL.

• Your blood sugar Above 120 mg/dl High blood sugar ups your risk of diabetes, which damages arteries. In fact, type 1 and type 2 diabetes are among the most harmful risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

• How many hours of sleep a night you get Most people need to sleep six to eight hours a night. And so I hear….. Common Heart Health Mistakes Made by Women—and How to Avoid Them

• Believing You’ll ‘Know’ When You Need to Get Your Blood Pressure Checked. Getting blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar measured regularly by MD. It flags risk for future heart trouble.

• Sticking to a workout plan with a buddy system Picking out an activity that’s fun and doable and worth sticking to

• Stop Smoking to Keep Weight Down Control weight with diet and exercise. E-cigarettes may not be as healthy as initially hoped as it still has nicotine per research.

• Not Knowing the Warning Signs of Heart Trouble Signs and symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, difficulty breathing or other bothersome symptoms that are unusual must be consulted with MD.

• Avoidance of Hormone Replacement Therapy at Menopause Because It’s Bad for the Heart If prescribed, hormonal therapy for menopausal symptom relief may be taken at the lowest possible dose for the shortest period of time.

• Thinking Certain Health Problems of Pregnancy Ended with child’s Birth Always informing a new doctor of full health history so all information necessary are considered And then this too…Common Heart Health Mistakes Made by Men—and How to Avoid Them

• Skipping Preventive Care If unable to remember last physical exam, get one as soon as possible. And take action quickly if something’s “not right.”

• Thinking Erection Problems Are All in the Head See a doctor about a possible physical cause of erectile dysfunction. An evaluation includes an assessment of overall heart health. No cause of embarrassment

• Thinking You’re Too Young for a Heart Attack/ A male in his 40’s is never too young to have a heart attack

• Self-Medicating If feeling sad or hopeless, or experiencing changes in eating or sleeping—too much or too little— ask MD for advice.

• Believing You Can’t Do Anything About Health Problems That ‘Run in the Family’ Bring up family history with MD, getting risks assessed with further testing and asking about the prevention tactics that really works— I know getting mad and angry and anxious is not good for my heart. How do I stay calm and cool? Anger raises blood pressure and increases risk for heart disease and heart attack. There are healthier ways in managing stressful emotion. It’s not that easy. It takes practice.

• Step back. Taking a brief time-out from a situation that makes you mad can help you think through it more logically. Count to 10 or walk away. This simple step can help you break a habit of hairtrigger reactions.

• Aim for assertive, not aggressive. You can stand up for yourself and make your feelings known without shouting, pointing fingers, making threats and shaking your fist. These exaggerated emotional responses aren’t necessarily constructive to making your point or getting your way. They just make the other person defensive—or mad too.

• Learn relaxation tools. Tactics like deep breathing can help you in the heat of the moment. Meditation, yoga and mindfulness training can also help you relax in general.

• Reduce your heart risk factors. If you’re prone to anger, it’s also a good idea to work on controlling broad risk factors like blood pressure and cholesterol.

The heart is the core of who we are. We speak from the heart, we react from the heart. WE move because of our heart. We are warm due to our heart. We walk, talk, laugh, sleep and eat for the heart. So let’s make this all about the heart. Let’s treat our hearts right. Let’s be kind to our hearts. Let’s take good care of our hearts. We only have one heart if given a lucky chance, some may get two. But, our heart is ours alone. So eat, sleep, relax, yoga and let’s chill our hearts out. Because YOUR HEART MATTERS AND AS AN ADVOCATE FOR YOUR HEALTH, I AM FOR YOUR HEART.

Sources: WebMD, John Hopkins Institute for Medicine, Heart Smart