Heart Health

Over the past couple of weeks I've talked about heart health. I thought you might be interested to know some of the numbers regarding your heart and it's work load. Did you know . . . . .

• The number of heart beats in an average lifetime is 3 billion.
• A red blood cell circulates the whole body in 1 minute.
  
• In 1 minute, the number of blood cells that die and the number born are each 2 million.
• Each tiny droplet of blood contains 5 million red blood cells, 300,000 platelets, and about 7,000 white blood cells.
• Each read blood cell makes 250,000 round trips of the body, before it returns to the bone marrow where it was born, to die.
• The heart pumps 300 quarts of blood every hour.
• The life expectancy of the red blood cell is about 6 weeks.
• The heart needs to pump blood to all of the 60 trillion cells of the body multiple times a day.
  

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #10

The last little thing to help protect your heart health is to take a moment each day to acknowledge all of the blessings in your life. This will help you tap into positive feelings and emotions. Positive feelings and emotions have been shown to be linked with better health, not just better heart health, living longer and a great sense of well-being.

When you are feeling angry, worried or hostile, these are things that can increase blood pressure and contribute to heart disease. So even if you get angry or you are worried, take a few moments to see the blessings in your life. This will often bring a smile to your face and you will feel your body relaxing.

One of the things that I did years ago was to take the bills and instead of putting them in a "Bills Due" folder, I put them in a folder marked "Blessings." Sometimes I used to fret about the bills, now I see the folder and I think, "Oh, those are the blessings in my life" and I smile. Try it, it may take just a little stress out of your life.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #9

Today's tip may have you asking how in the world can that help my heart health. The tip is to wash your hands often. This decreases your risk of infection from the flu, pneumonia, and things like strep which can directly effect the heart. Strep can actually get into the blood stream and attach the valves of the heart, so it is critical to be careful.

While pneumonia and the flu don't directly attach the heart like strep, the infections can put extra strain on the heart as the lungs are affected. Simply put, wash your hands before you put anything into your mouth. If you have been out meeting people and shaking hands, wash your hands after wards. While this may seem kind of silly, it may be the thing that protects you the most.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #8

I've discussed eating over the past few days and just have one other comment on what you put into your mouth. The most important thing you can drink is water. Caffeine definitely has an effect on the heart, so you want to be aware of how much caffeine you are taking in, whether it is in the form of coffee, lattes, or sodas. Both sodas and lattes have increased detriment as far as the heart goes because of the sugar/calorie load. Even "no calorie" sodas are not good for the heart because they often contain caffeine.

Don't try to go cold turkey, this will not go well. Cut out 1 of these and go at it gradually over several weeks until you are no longer drinking the sodas and lattes. Having 1-2 cups of coffee per day is OK, but get it dow to that much.

Drink the water - filtered water is best. You don't have to buy bottled water, filter it yourself. It is more economical and you will be helping to save the planet.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #7

Since I've been talking about food, there is one more piece for heart health. Exchange the red meat for seafood. Try fish or some other type of seafood at least 1 night a week. Start this way and increase the number of times for eating from the sea to 2-3 times a week.

This is very heart healthy and seafood is also good for the brain as well as the waistline. If you're not a fish lover get creative with some ways to fix the fish or seafood. These foods are very rich in omega 3 which is very helpful to the heart and helps cut down inflammation.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #6

Let's talk about snacking while we're talking about food. For better heart health, try snacking on nuts such as almonds or walnuts instead of chips or cookies when you need a snack. Nuts actually contain lots of healthy ingredients that can help your heart.

Nuts can also help curb your appetite when you eat them between meals. Now I'm talking about raw nuts not sugar roasted.

You can also add nuts to salads or other dishes. They are a great source of protein as well.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #5

Yesterday I talked about breakfast as being the most important meal. Today let's talk about what things are healthy choices throughout the day. Today, I want you to start by adding 1 extra serving of fruits or vegetables. If you are eating less than 5 servings a day, your goal will be to get to 5 a day and maintain that level. So start today by adding 1 extra to whatever you are currently eating.

Fruits and vegetables not only help with heart health, but they help with brain chemistry, brain health, strengthening your immune system to helping the bowel to function better. Substitute a piece of fruit for dessert or whatever it is that you are eating during the day when you crave sugar. This is a healthier way to eat and you will crave sugar less.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #4

Now You're breathing deeply, you're exercising with your walk and lifting weights. Next let's talk about eating. I have mentioned it before, but this is so very important that it bears repeating. Make breakfast the most important meal of the day.

Feeding your body after a night's rest is vital to it's functioning in a normal way. Starving the body by not eating breakfast will not make you lose weight and may in fact make you gain weight. Be sure that you have some form of protein, a serving of whole grains and a serving of fruit. This will balance things within your body so that it can take on the day and expend the appropriate energy required.

Remember, your mother was right when she said to eat your breakfast!

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #3

Now you've started to exercise which will help lower things like cholesterol. But more importantly, the exercise will increase the strength of your heart and take away some weight which is adding stress to the heart.

The heart needs lots of oxygen to stay well. So now before you take your 10 minute walk or lift your weights, take 2 minutes to deep breath slowly. This will help prepare you for your walk or to lift the weights. At night before you go to bed or as you are going to bed, sit and take 10 slow deep breaths. This will relax you and take the stress away from your heart. Deep breathing can also help you lower your blood pressure.

More tomorrow.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health #2

Yesterday you started walking - just 10 minutes. Today I want you to lift a 2 pound weight or a heavy book 5-10 times. Do this a couple of times. This will begin to tone up muscles. If you already lift weights or use free weights 2-3 times a week, then you're already doing this one.

If you work, when you need to take a break, lift the weight, do it during your lunch hour or whenever you have a few minutes. You can even do this while you're watching TV.

When it becomes easy for you to lift whatever it is that you are using, then increase the weight.

More tomorrow.

Little Things That Can Imporve Heart Health

Over the next several days I'm going to be talking about some little things that you can begin to implement for better heart health. Instead of waiting until you have a heart problem, start now with little things that can make a difference as far as whether you will ever have a heart problem.

Start out with taking a brief 10 minute walk. If you currently are not exercising, this is a great way to get started. If you currently do exercise, this will add a little extra exercise into your day. Find ways to do this. Park as far away from where you're going as you can, so that you can walk for 10 minutes. The advantage of this is that you have just put 20 minutes of walking into your day and that is awesome!

If you live in an apartment, walk the hallways for 10 minutes. You don't have to go outside, just walk for 10 minutes.

More tomorrow.