Every single day your heart does a great job taking care of you. In honor of February being National Heart Month, here are some steps that you can take to focus on your cardiovascular health and give your heart the boost it needs to beat at its best.
Let’s Get Physical
Completing just 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day can lower your blood pressure, lower your LDL (bad cholesterol), boost your HDL (good cholesterol), and decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease. However, finding a full 30 minutes in the day to work-out can be difficult with a busy schedule. Luckily, we’ve found some ways for you to sneak physical activity into your day:
- Take the stairs!
- Take a 10-minute walk during your break.
- Park further away from your location to get some extra walking time in.
- Try these desk-friendly exercises: Arm circles, calf raises, and desk or wall pushups.
If you happen to have more free time on your hands, get your family or friends involved! Try activities that you can enjoy together like swimming, dancing, running, cycling, hiking, and playing tennis.
After taking all those stairs, you might be a little hungry. Consider rewarding yourself by filling your plate with some heart disease-preventing foods!
Preparing a Heart-Healthy Plate
Food is fuel and we all want to feel good about what we put in the tank. Focus on making energy-boosting meals that not only look great but taste great as well. Here are some heart-health boosting options to add to your plate:
- Build a better salad with dark leafy green vegetables like kale, spinach, and collard greens.
- Keep it colorful with red, yellow and orange vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes and squash.
- Aim for fruits that are high in antioxidants like berries, apples, pears, apricots, bananas, and oranges.
- Swap out refined carbs for whole grain breads, pasta, oatmeal and rice.
- Snack on some nuts like almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts.
- Beef up your plate with clean proteins like beans, lentils, fish, and organic chicken.
Bonus: You don’t have to miss out on dessert! Dark chocolate that contains a cocoa percentage of 70% or higher has great heart-health benefits.
Finally, what could be a better way to end the day than with a good night’s sleep?
Get a Good Night’s Rest
When you don’t get enough sleep, your heart rate tends to stay elevated rather than going into a resting state. According to the American Heart Association, poor sleep quality is linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure and can potentially cause heart disease. Grab yourself a blanket, get cozy, and try out some of these tips for getting a good night’s rest:
Unplug and Unwind
The blue light that comes from your digital devices (cell phone, TV, and laptop) block the hormone that makes you sleepy called melatonin. To decrease blue light exposure try shutting off all digital devices 20 minutes to 1 hour before you go to bed.
Bonus: If you enjoy reading on a kindle at night, get yourself a pair of Blue Light Blocking Glasses to limit exposure.
Create a Bedtime Routine That Works for You
When it comes to preparing your mind for a good sleep, routine can make a big difference. Here are some ideas that you could implement into your bedtime routine:
- Set your alarm to signal that you’ll be going to bed soon.
- Create and listen to a relaxing bedtime playlist.
- Read 10 pages of a good book.
- Dim the lights or only turn on the lamp.
- Stretch out for 5 minutes.
- Make yourself a warm cup of tea or your favorite drink (not including caffeinated drinks).
We hope that you find these tips and tricks helpful in your journey to creating heart-healthy habits!
More opportunities:
Join the CRW Well-Being at the HSC and MCSC well-being hubs for weekly programs such as Mindful Monday, Therapeutic Thursday, and Fresh Food Friday.
Upcoming events: https://crw.ecu.edu/wellness-fitness/the-cove-wellness-center/
Reach your heart health goals with the BetterYou App: register.betteryou.ai