Heart Health and Peace of Mind!!

The new year came, we set our intention for renewed commitment to a healthier lifestyle and now many of us have slipped back into old habits. Now it’s time to forgive ourselves and do another reset.

Heart disease kills one in four Americans, yet simple lifestyle changes can prevent 80 percent of those deaths. In “Live a Heart-Heathy Lifestyle,” Ronica O’Hara outlines the strategies advocated by leading integrative cardiologists including switching to a largely plant-based diet, taking key supplements to boost cellular energy, getting preventive screening to detect inflammation and other risk factors, exercising a half hour a day, and making mindfulness, gratitude and forgiveness part of daily life. A sidebar includes research-based advice such as brushing teeth often, taking a daily bath, and avoiding traffic pollution when exercising.

In her article “Tools for Inner Peace,” Marlaina Donato explains that although mindfulness and meditation are often confused with each other, their philosophy and approaches differ. Mindfulness teaches us to sink into the moment, bringing our awareness to sights, sounds, thoughts, the environment; it’s used in educational and medical settings. Meditation uses focused breathing, chanting, visualization and other methods to enable us to access the deepest levels of consciousness. They are naturally complementary, and both can boost our health and well-being.

The article “Halting Hypertension,” by Marlaina Donato, explains for the 75 million Americans with high blood pressure, how watching their diet and moving the body in everyday activities like gardening and walking can help keep numbers in check, but even bigger benefits come from focusing on such approaches as weight lifting and high-intensity interval training. Yoga, breathwork and stretching have also been shown to lower blood pressure readings.

Life is a work in progress, so if we slip back into our old habits, let’s not beat ourselves up over it—simply reset and begin again. No matter how many times we slip, let’s keep our focus on placing one foot in front of the other and start over, because our health and consequent peace of mind, is worth it. Here’s to a healthful and peaceful 2021!

To conscious living,
Pamela Gallina, Publisher