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February is All About a Healthy, Happy Heart!

By Jennifer Green February 4, 2016
It's no coincidence that Heart Month falls in February, the same month we celebrate love! This is a good time to take stock of just how well we're caring for this vital piece of equipment. 

Did you know your heart beats 100,000 times a day and it pumps nearly 2,000 gallons of blood per day through your body? If you took all the blood vessels in an adult- that's all the arteries, veins, and capillaries- and stretched them out, it would be well over 60,000 miles long.

I don't know about you, but I have some serious respect for this amazing organ! But it's health is largely in our hands, so let's look at some ways we can do our part to keep it happy and healthy for years to come.

  • Keep your sodium intake in check. Roughly 90% of Americans consume too much salt (yikes!), and this is directly linked to an increased risk for high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major contributing factor for heart disease and stroke. Processed foods are a huge source of sodium in the average American's diet, so limiting the amount of this type of food that you and your family eats is vitally important. Packaged foods may be convenient, but we need to realize that this convenience comes with a high price. 

  • Get outside and play! Your heart is made up of specialized muscle tissue, and just like the other muscles in your body, it benefits from physical activity. When you engage in aerobic (or "cardio") exercise, your heart gets stronger. A strong heart doesn't beat as fast as a weaker heart, and it pumps blood more efficiently. Aerobic activity also helps control cholesterol, raising the good cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins, or HDL) in the blood, and lowering the bad cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins, or LDL), and this leads to less buildup of plaque in the arteries. And less plaque in your arteries means you have less of a chance of having them narrow, which will reduce your chances of developing heart disease.  With nearly 83 million Americans living a sedentary lifestyle, we need to reverse this trend. Remember, you don't have to run a marathon to see the benefits of exercise. It can be as simple as a walk through your neighborhood. Any activity is good for your heart!

  • Stress less. This one is tough, I will admit. It seems our modern lives are just not conducive to a peaceful existence. We are constantly bombarded by stimuli- computers, smart phones, packed schedules that require us to be in two places at once, the demands from work and family pulling us in opposite directions. It's as if we are living in "warp speed", at all times. And all of this chips away at your heart's ability to function effectively. When you are in a state of stress, your body is in "fight or flight" mode. That's the term given to a sudden stressful situation that causes your body to release a surge of adrenaline, which then causes breathing and heart rate to increase. Your blood pressure rises, too. But when you're in a state of chronic stress, your blood pressure can stay elevated. People also tend to engage in unhealthy coping behaviors, such as smoking or drinking too much. These behaviors are linked to high blood pressure and can damage the walls of the arteries. Developing healthy coping strategies is critical. Yoga, meditation, exercise, reading, journaling, or talking to a friend or therapist are healthier ways to keep stress in check. 

  • Adopt a pet! There's good evidence that having a pet (especially a dog, since they require daily exercise!) can help keep your heart healthy. Need more reasons to bring a pet into the family? Macaroni Kid has you covered

  • Know your numbers. Every adult should know their blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic) numbers, their cholesterol levels (HDLs, LDLs, and triglycerides, which are a type of fat found in the blood, and having a high level of them in the blood has been linked to higher rates of heart disease), and your blood sugar. 

  • Quit. Smoking. We know too much now about how bad this habit is, but it needs to be repeated. Smoking damages the lining of your arteries, and this can lead to a build up of plaque which then narrow your arteries. This is can lead to a heart attack. 

  • Aim for more heart-healthy fats. We are conditioned to think all fat is bad, but this is not quite true. We should limit saturated and trans fats (which can boost the bad levels of cholesterol in our blood), but increase the amount of omega-3 and monounsaturated fats (these help lower the LDLs in our blood and raise the HDLs). Aim to increase the amount of fatty fish like salmon, olive oil, avocados, walnuts, flaxseed, and dark leafy green vegetables you and your family consumes every week.

Give your heart a Valentine this month and commit to a heart-healthy routine!