Heart disease runs in our family. I lost my mother last year from the disease and have been told by my doctor that I have some heart issues to watch. You can bet that the heart is something that I'm interested in. Seeing your doctor is the first and most important thing to do to protect your heart. But we have heard from our doctors or other sources which might be certain things we can do to support our hearts be healthy. Below are some of these with my approach in putting them into practice.
First up is exercise. When I was young exercise came easy. I was always playing basketball, riding my bike and doing something where I was on the move. For most of us as we get older, that may be not our day to day routine. In truth, we are sitting down for most in the day! So we have to make more of an effort to get active. My wife and I like to walk. We have a walking trail in our neighborhood along the river so it makes for an enjoyable thing for us to do. We are able to get our heart rates up some with brisk walking. We don't like to run because we are concerned about doing damage to our knees over time.
If the weather is bad, there are shows on the exercise channel that we sometimes follow along while using exercise routines.
Second, we try to consume more of the foods are said to be great for the heart. We always have walnuts and almonds on hand. They make a great snack and are healthy. Just don't eat too many of them. They tend to be high in calories. More than ever we consume various fruits, legumes and vegetables. These are high in antioxidants which are all the rage, but truly it is like that book years ago that suggested that all we need to know we learned in kindergarten. Eating fruits and vegetables has always been excellent for us. Finally, we consume whole grains like brown rice and whole grain breads.
Third, we keep close to people. We keep our family close as possible and stay in touch as much as possible. We say I love you. We maintain old friendship and create new ones. We are involved while in the lives of others through our work and church involvements. There may be nothing better to do the heart good than to love and serve others.
One, fortunately we like fish and try to eat some a couple of times a week. Certain fish like salmon is high in omega-3 fatty acids. You've no doubt heard a lot about these and how they can lower the risk of sudden death from a heart attack. Some people take omega-3 supplements but we don't. We try to eat other foods too besides fish which are either fortified with omega-3 or the system can turn into it - an example is walnuts.
Two, we try to arrange our lives to lower stress. Not all stress is bad and some is necessary in life. But in our hectic world, stress is epidemic. People try to limit stress in their lives in different ways. One thing we do is that we have learned to say no. There are so many beneficial things to get involved in and it is hard to say no. But if you say yes to everything, you could do yourself in. And then you are no fine to anyone. Its better to carefully choose what you will commit yourself to.
Using traditional time management ideas, we have found that when you get more organized and get things done more efficiently, you normally simple add more things onto your to-do list. Before long you are back where you started and overwhelmed. We found it better to limit what we say we are going to do. The result is less stress.
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