Heart health begins with you. It’s that simple and straightforward. Your decisions, habits, and actions largely determine your health. Having self-care for better heart health is always worth the small adjustments.
6 Tips for Self-Care for Better Heart Health
1. Daily Exercise
This should be no surprise to see on the top of the list for self-care for better heart health. Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise each day will help keep heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and heart attack away.
Exercising can be done to lose weight, build muscle mass, relax your mind, increase flexibility, or just for fun. No matter why or how it’s done, exercise is good for you both physically and mentally.
Reducing stress can help to decrease the amount of tension on your heart and blood pressure. Exercising also helps to build HDL (good cholesterol), so your heart is healthier.
2. Eat Healthier
We’re not asking you to throw away all of your favorite treats, but eating healthier combined with exercise is the top recommended self-care for heart health.
What you put in your body greatly affects the way your heart works and its ability to receive blood and deliver it to the rest of your body adequately. In addition, consuming too many foods high in salt, fat, cholesterol, and sugar are very detrimental to your overall health.
Cooking at home more often and reading labels before you throw any food in the cart at the store will help you to be more aware of what’s going in your food, and more importantly, your body.
3. Learn to Relax
Meditation, yoga, or whatever activity can help you to destress and relax is key to staying happy and healthy.
Finding “you time”, even a minute every hour, will help you to refocus and de-stress. Walking around the building, stretching, or just sitting on the grass can do wonders for your mind and body.
Sitting all day is bad for your circulation. So getting up every once in awhile is also good for your muscles and blood flow.
4. Find a Favorite Hobby
Having something to do outside of work, kids, or whatever takes up most of your time will also help you have improved self-care for better heart health.
Being able to do any activity that lets you unwind at the end of the day will also help you be less stressed. It can be something to look forward to that you can enjoy alone or with friends or family.
An activity that brings you happiness will give you endorphins and also give you a sense of accomplishment.
5. Laugh More
For some, this may not be a difficult task to accomplish. For others, it may be a bit more difficult since many office settings are strictly business oriented.
Eating lunch with friends, watching a funny sitcom, or going to a comedy club are easy and fun ways to get in your dose of laughter. Laughing reduces stress and releases endorphins, which can help to decrease blood pressure levels.
6. Get Enough Sleep
This tip is crucial for self-care for better heart health. The average American does not get enough sleep, which can lead to a lack of productivity, moodiness, eating more, higher cholesterol levels, and increased risk of heart disease.
Watching your must-see shows an hour or two before you want to go to bed instead of starting when you should be going to bed will get you to bed on time. So, wind down about an hour before bedtime so that you’re not going to best stressed.
Resources
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/45-simple-self-care-practices-for-a-healthy-mind-body-and-soul/