Heart Health. How is your ticker ticking?
Healthy and happy? What are you doing to look after your heart?
This week has two heart related awareness days, (links below). Use this week to check and test what you could be doing differently to help improve your heart health.
We invest a lot of time and energy working towards our future but the cold hard facts are that if we don’t look after our physical and mental health we may not be well enough to enjoy the benefits of our years of hard work.
None of this will be news to you. This information is out there, we all know what we should be doing to look after ourselves, what we are failing to do is prioritise the time and energy to look after ourselves.
Are you making it a priority?
Food
Nutrition is key to our physical and mental health. What does your food and water intake look like? Are you eating the right fuel for your activity levels?
Quality and quantity is the key here. Put the right food and water in, in the right amount, and you will be running as well as the best performing engine out there.
Every week the media release a new ‘eat this not that’ article or programme. New research is released which often seems to argue against the last piece of research that came out. Unless nutrition interests you then keep it simple. 80% of what you need, 20% of what you want.
Find the balance that works for you. Find the foods that work best for you. Focus on what your body needs.
Slow day and not much energy going out — less food in.
Busy day and lots of energy needed — more food in.
Keep hydrated!
Activity
Many of us have sedentary jobs so it means we have to find alternative ways to increase our activity levels.
Find an activity that works for you. Something that fits in with your routine and your lifestyle, something that you enjoy doing and look forward to. Once again, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, or the latest fitness craze. If you enjoy walking then go for a walk, if you like to run do that, if you want to get back into playing hockey, football or rugby then find a local club and get involved. Anything that gets you moving and gets your heart rate up. 20 minutes, 5 times a week is recommended by the NHS. You will feel better for it not just physically but mentally too.
Stress
How are you managing your stress? Do you have ways to help you keep the stress bucket empty and coping strategies to deal with the challenges life throws our way? We should all be trying to do something every day to help reduce our stress levels.
This doesn’t need to be anything complex, a bath, a book, music, a walk, a phone call to a friend, a favourite TV episode. What works for you? What helps you switch off?
Check who you surround yourself with and who you allow into your headspace, either in reality or virtually. Filter out the negativity as much as possible.
Fulfilment
Is your heart full?
Are you fulfilled?
The definition of fulfilment is:
· The achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted.
· Satisfaction or happiness as a result of fully developing one’s potential.
Are you working towards fulfilment? What do you fill your heart with?
We need to look after our heart physically but emotionally we need to be looking after our heart as well. The two are connected and it is important that physical and mental wellbeing is a priority for all of us.
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Heart Awareness Links, please take a look:
http://www.heartrhythmalliance.org/aa/uk/heart-rhythm-week
https://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/fundraising/wear-it-beat-it
