Give Your Heart the Love It Needs with These 3 Healthy Heart Tips

Did you know that September 29th is World Heart Day? So to kick-off the celebration, let's get to the heart of the matter — if your heart isn’t healthy, your overall wellness will pay the consequences! Your heart is a crucial player in your overall well-being, making maintaining its health an essential factor in living a long, healthy, and vibrant life. Your heart powers your entire body, and taking steps to protect it from wear and tear is crucial to your quality of life.

That’s why, at SWBC Employee Benefits Consulting Group, we decided to provide heart-healthy tips and tricks so you can live with all your heart!

Eat Your Heart Out — with Good-for-You Foods

Filling your body with heart-healthy foods is a great way to fill your heart with the nutrients it needs to keep you healthy. A hearty diet can help your heart build resilience against diseases and natural wear-and-tear while boosting blood pressure, improving cholesterol levels, and decreasing your risk of type 2 diabetes.

According to the American Heart Association, a heart-healthy diet typically consists of more:

Fruits and vegetables.
Whole grains.
Legumes
Healthy protein sources.
Healthy fats.
Lower salt and minimally processed foods.

Meanwhile, if you are looking to take better care of your heart, a few things you may want to reduce or avoid completely include:

Salty foods or meals high in sodium.
Tobacco products.
Alcohol
Highly processed foods.

Another important thing to consider in caring for your heart is to work on ensuring you are at a healthy weight. This is something your doctor and you can determine together. As shared on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s website, obesity is a chronic health condition that increases one’s risk of developing heart disease. If you are overweight, your doctor can help you create a plan to begin your journey toward a healthier weight.

Pump Up — Your Exercise Routine

Your exercise routine and diet typically go hand in hand when it comes to taking care of your overall health and well-being. Your heart is no exception. Regular blood-pumping exercise can have many benefits for your heart and the quality of your life as a whole. A few of these benefits include:

Strengthening your heart muscle.
Boosting oxygen levels within your blood.
Reducing the risk of developing heart disease.
Lowering blood pressure.
Helping you reach and maintain a healthy weight (accompanied by a diet matching your specific caloric needs).
Decreases the risk of heart attack.

Give Your Heart a Break from Stress

A fact that many don’t consider often enough is that your physical health is dependent on your mental wellness, and vice versa. Stress is a factor that has a significant impact on both your mental and physical health, especially on your heart. This could be for several reasons.

For instance, your behaviors can be impacted by the toll stress has on your mental health, ultimately affecting your heart health. You may pick up unhealthy habits, like tobacco use or overeating, or you may put down healthy habits, skipping your exercise time or switching to an unhealthier diet.

Stress doesn’t just impact your behaviors, though. It can also cause many physical ailments, like aches and pains. It can negatively impact your sleep and drain your energy.

Chronic stress, or stress that occurs for an extended period of time, has been linked to high blood pressure, which can increase a person’s risk of a heart attack.

There are many ways you can reduce stress, including:

Regular exercise.
Making time to build and nourish your social connections.
Getting enough sleep.
Practicing mindfulness and other relaxation techniques.
Gratitude journaling- This is a form of journaling in which you list the things you feel grateful for.

In Conclusion

Don’t go breaking your own heart. Your health depends on it. While these three tips can be great for helping keep your heart in tip-top shape, the most important thing you can do is follow your doctor’s personalized health instructions for you. Follow your recommended health check-up schedule, give them a call when you have any questions or concerns, and listen to your doctor’s advice!

Like what you see in this blog? At SWBC Employee Benefits and Consulting Group, we care about the well-being of our clients and their employees. That is why we’ve developed a monthly wellness newsletter full of tips and tricks for taking care of you! Click here to check it out!

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Employee Health & Wellness

Andrew Grove

Andrew Grove is CEO of SWBC’s Employee Benefits Consulting Group, where he has been a key leader since joining the company in 2013. With over 30 years of industry experience, Andrew has established himself as a seasoned expert in delivering tailored solutions to employers of all sizes. His professional journey includes 20 years as an executive at Humana, where he honed his skills in strategic planning, client relations, and benefits consulting. Andrew’s deep understanding of the industry and his commitment to excellence have made him a trusted advisor to many. Andrew attended The University of Texas at San Antonio, is a Health Insurance Associate (HIA) Designee, a Managed Healthcare Professional (MHP) designee, Life Underwriters Training Council (LUTC) graduate and has received numerous awards for outstanding sales achievement. He currently serves on the Producer Advisory Board for United Concordia Dental and the National Broker Advisory Board for UnitedHealthcare.