Valentine's Day is tomorrow and we want to make sure our hearts are in order. So let's talk about heart disease and heart related problems. Heart disease describes a range of condition that affect the heart such as heat disease, coronary artery disease, arrhythmias (heart rhythm), and cardiovascular disease (narrow or blocked blood vessels).
There are several causes that could lead to heart issues such as birth defects and dieting. Birth defects a person can not control and some issues can be resolved with treatment while others may require surgeries. Dieting however is something we can control and as a nation we are consuming too much sugar, high sodium foods, and foods loaded in deep fried grease. To add with that we are taking on more stress whether it be from working longer hours, balancing multiple projects, or worrying about things we can not directly control such as politics, economy, and/or world events.
- We want you to enjoy life because we only get one on this side of the earth. But in doing so we need to understand our environment and do the best we can to control what we can and what we can not control pray/meditate/breathe/relax/etc (depending on your beliefs) about it.
- Enjoy the foods we have but understand what you put in has an affect one way or another. So concentrate on diets that are mainly foods directly from the farm to the kitchen (hint: if it is man made eat less of it, if it is from the earth eat more of it). Also ignore the labels you see on the shelves that says X processed food "has been shown to lower cholesterol and reduce the chance at heart disease", eating a proper diet, working out regularly, and stressing less will do that.
- Players have a saying that says leave it all on the field. I say apply that same principle to work. When you clock in give your employer all you can leaving it all at the job (honest day's work for an honest day's pay) but once you leave work that is your time to ignore it until the next day you clock in. With technology now it is easy to bring the work home and get caught up in working and stressing too much but if you are laid up in the hospital they are going to have to find someone else to continue anyway. Set aside parameters and make sure to separate work life from home life.
So how do you keep your heart healthy?