Cross your legs and freely extend your hands to your sides? With your eyes closed start humming quietly…..
Wait a minute! What?!? Start humming???
I’m a science guy (my son calls me a science geek)…what is all this Zen stuff?
Well, it’s true. Stress is absolutely a detriment to a healthy cardiovascular system and weight loss.
Certainly, at some point in your life, you’ve gotten extremely stressed. Some do it on a regular basis. The long line at the grocery store, slow traffic, technology that is supposed to make you efficient, but doesn’t work. It can all create stress.
However, some people are able to deal with stress easier than others. Some just aren’t ‘wired’ that way and become stressed out on a daily basis.
The question we should all have is this. “Does increased stress increase our health risks?” I mean, maybe the stress may seem bad for us, but it’s really not. On the other hand, maybe these stressors are causing us great harm to our health.
Well, unfortunately for those Type A personalities, it seems that stress causes changes on the inside the body that increases illness and health risks.
A recent study demonstrates that those people that are less agreeable, more hostile and have an antagonistic personality have greater thickening of the blood vessel walls in their neck. In fact, the researchers found that they have a 40% higher risk of having the arteries narrow.
The report, printed in the the online adition of Hypertension on August 16th, illustrates how those that have more stress (especially those who are competitive, manipulative or quick to anger) have greater risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke and heart attack.
If you fall into the category of easily angered, hostile, manipulative or an antogonist…it’s time to change. Make some simple changes to start with and continue to move towards a life that’s more stress free.
1. Exercise – Excercise has been shown to control stress by releasing stress reducing chemicals within your body.
2. Meditate – Take 10 minutes every day to meditate. Find a quiet and relaxing area in your home and spend 10-15 minutes clearing your mind.
3. Laugh – We’ve forgotten how to laugh. Kids have no problem finding fun and laughing. It’s only as adults that we get too serious.
It may be possible to incorporate laugher into daily activities, just as is done with other heart-healthy activities, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be exercise, eat right and laugh a few times a day.-Michael Miller, MD, F.A.C.C., Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center
So, reduce the stress in your life to improve your heart health. It doesn’t take much, but will allow you to live a longer and more fulfilling life.
Now, get your Zen on and start to meditate.
SQ