Your heart is far bigger than you think it is; bigger than a mechanical pump the size of a fist. Your heart is also the veins and the arteries that run through your whole body. It isn’t just in your chest. Your might say that your heart is your body. It’s the most important thing you own.
For all the incredible things the heart does for the body, it asks little in return. It can withstand decades of abuse without so much as a word of complaint. But make no mistake, there is a limit to how much the heart can take. Long-term abuse can reverberate from generation to generation, causing all manner a cardiovascular mishap.
Taking time to show the heart a little love can be a life-changing endeavour. Whole pockets of energy and vitality open up out of nowhere, just by giving the heart the attention is so badly needs. In light of this, here are 5 tips for a healthy heart:
1. Stop Blaming your Family History
Your family history means bupkis. You are not your grandparents. Many people mistakenly believe they’re destined for heart disease, just because there’s been heart disease in the family.
We forget that other things are hereditary too. Like lifestyle, for example, including diet and exercise habits. Attitude is hereditary, as is addiction or substance abuse. If Uncle Joe was an angry alcoholic, chances are at least one of his sons are as well. Probably his father and brother were too.
Your heart isn’t something you inherit from your parents. It’s a precious gift you were given to love and care for for a finite period of time. Take ownership.
2. Make Love, not War
Most health experts recommend 30 minutes of exercise daily for optimal heart health. Why not make it 30 minutes of fun in the bedroom? The benefits are manifold.
One study showed men who had sex twice per week had a 45 percent lower risk of heart attack when compared to those who had sex less than once per month. Sex is also a great stress-buster, a huge bonus since anxiety and stress are other major causes of heart attack. It doesn’t end there: orgasm causes the body to produce oxytocin, which relieves aches and pains, relaxing the body further still.
As the heart rate rises, fresh blood is pumped through the organs, improving circulation and expelling toxins. Finally, sex (and also, hugs, if you’re just not in the mood) reduces high blood pressure, one of the leading causes of heart attack.
2. Ignore Marketing and Eat Real Food (Yes! That means cooking it too)
Studies show that proper diet is the number one thing people are concerned about when comes to heart health. Most people just aren’t sure what to eat. And no wonder. Clever food marketing has tricked consumers into thinking Frosted Flakes and Wonder Bread are good for the heart just because they contain five whole grains and come certified by this or that association.
Despite the overwhelming number of books written on the subject, most of us already know which foods nourish the body and which don’t. As a general rule, try to eat mostly foods that are recognizable as whole foods (not just because it says so on the label). That means fruits, vegetable, grains, nuts and seeds. It also means you will have to learn how to make them taste delicious in the kitchen. Get used to it.
Fresh fish is an incredibly heart-healthy food. You can also get those same omega-3, 6 and 9s from hemp seeds. Save the red meat and fettuccine alfredo for special occasions.
3. Practice Meditation and Deep Breathing
Both practices are extremely helpful in stress reduction and mindfulness. The amygdala is the part of the brain that regulates the way we experience stress and other negative emotions. The denser the amygdala, the more stressed out, angry and depressed a person is likely to be. A proven stress-buster, meditation has been shown to reduce the density of the amygdala over time.
Deep breathing – even five or ten deep breaths at the crucial moment – is a great way to bring the body back into the moment and create a mindful experience of every day. Why mindfulness? Mindfulness is understanding why you’re craving that family-sized pack of licorice, then going for a run instead. Mindfulness is the reflex that tells you to turn off the TV and go have sex with your wife. Mindfulness is being aware of your body and giving it what it needs.
A healthy mind is critical to a healthy body. Listening to positive words, surrounding oneself with high-energy people, expressing gratitude and cultivating a good attitude are, in their own way, some of the most heart healthy actions a person can take.
4. Ignore the Heart & Stroke Foundation
This last tip may be a little controversial but it’s worth thinking about. It applies to almost any and every lobbying foundation allegedly in the service of heart health. These types of foundations are at the service the modern medical system – a system the depends on people getting sick, booking appointments, undergoing surgeries, and purchasing expensive medication.
The modern medical system does an awesome job saving people in emergency situations. They deserve their proverbial pat on the back. But they’ve got a long way to go in terms of preventative care. There are many options far more interesting than an aspirin a day when it comes to cultivating a healthy heart: naturopathy, acupuncture, qigong, and more. Many helpful practitioners exist on the non-medical side. A life coach, for example, can do a lot more for the heart than a daily dose of aspirin.
It’s important to recognize that most medical foundations only give one side of the story. There’s more to a healthy heart than a yearly visit to the GP. Start with the obvious, like quitting smoking, cutting back on the salt and easing up on the booze. Just as the heart must keep pumping every minute of the day, so should we be mindful of doing the work – at least a little work – to keep our most important organ functioning at peak performance every minute of every day.
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