20 Jan Better Heart Health in 2023
With the new year upon us everyone is focused on a certain resolution or goal for the year. The most common tend to be centered around weight loss or financial gains, which don’t get me wrong, can be great directions to go but very seldomly do we stop to think about the core of our health and way to make long term improvements. So, this 2023 I encourage us to dig deeper into our health and focus on taking our heart health into consideration. How often do we stop and say, “is my heart healthy?” For most of us that answer is never or when we do stop to question its health, it is because something feels off but why wait until then when we can take proactive steps to heart health right now! Below we share 10 ways to better heart health.
Move More
One of the easiest things to keep our heart beating healthy is to move the body and get the blood flowing. This may seem easy enough, but the truth is most Americans don’t move their bodies enough especially as they begin to age. Some simple ways to incorporate more movement would be to:
- – Take the stairs instead on the elevator.
- – Move your body while watching tv. Some ideas are walking in place, jumping jacks, simple floor exercises with resistant bands and even if you do the exercises during commercials, you will get over a 10 minute workout in while watching your favorite show.
- – Play with your kids. It has been common practice to sit outside on our phones or relaxing while our kids play in the yard but why not join in and have some fun with them. Not only will this get you moving but you will be building memories that last forever with your children.
Clean Diet
Clean healthy diets are not only good for the waistline but also can aid in keeping your heart ticking like it should. Maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding overeating is key. There are hundreds of resources for heart healthy diets but some easy things to focus on are:
- – Including fruits and vegetables to your diet. Sometimes it is easier to try and add these items than replacing. For example, say chicken and mashed potatoes are a weekly meal next time add a vegetable to the plate, over time reduce the amount of mashed potatoes and increase the amount of vegetables. Suddenly, the dish become chicken and vegetables.
- – Mix up protein, add more fish and poultry and reduce the amount of red meat.
- – Reduce the alcohol consumption.
- – Don’t drink calories, try to get your calories through clean whole foods.
Quit Smoking
Most of us know by now that smoking is not good for us in any way and that smoking is one of the hardest habits to break. However, smoking is one of the most detrimental habits to our bodies and heart so it is important to mention that trying to kick this habit can help extend the life by years.
Stress Management.
Stress can have crazy effects on the body one being putting pressure on the heart through high blood pressure. We can manage stress through various ways here are some of the basics:
- – Therapy
- – Mediation
- – Workouts
- – Breathing
- – Read to unwind and relax and disconnect from the stress
- – Practice gratitude
These are just some of the ways we can all start to take better care of our heart health in 2023! If you are looking to make healthy lifestyle changes FITTEAM is here to help and support that journey.
Sources: