Welcome to the second instalment of our Revive and Thrive series.
I am nothing if not a cliché lover so this month is all about heart health – those four little chambers that should be so precious we would never do anything to endanger their ability to function. That said, don’t you find that when you can’t see something you maybe don’t think about it as much as you should? That is certainly the case for me and arguably focusing on the things we can’t actually see is the key to building our health.
Make February 2024 the month you think about your heart health – there are so many resources available to help us.
It takes commitment and discipline to look after what you cannot see – that’s not a fault, it is just how us humans are built. When was the last time we thought to ourselves ‘I wonder how my kidney performance is’ or ‘is my pancreas doing its job’? When it comes to organs we tend to be reactive rather than proactive.
You know your age but do you know your heart’s age?
The NHS has devised this simple online test to give us an idea of where our heart stands compared to our years on this planet; finding out your heart age then trying to improve it could be a much more beneficial progress measurement than those dreaded bathroom scales.
https://www.nhs.uk/health-assessment-tools/calculate-your-heart-age
We all know the basics of looking after our hearts – we know we should eat food that comes from a farm rather than a factory, we know we need to move and get our hearts pumping, we know the dangers of smoking and we are reminded often to be careful about our alcohol intake. Our bodies want to make survival as easy as possible for us and following the nutritional advice below won’t only improve heart health but multiple other areas of your overall health.
https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/heart-health.html
It feels remiss to talk about heart health without adding in how we can also help others in an emergency. St Johns Ambulance have created an incredible app which works offline and talks you through how to deal with so many medical emergencies while you wait for an ambulance.
Get the app here!
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/st-john-ambulance-first-aid/id347574230
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sja.firstaid&hl=en_GB&gl=US
Heart Health and Happy Heart
It is impossible to overstate the importance of a physically healthy heart but don’t forget to look after the happiness and fulfilment of your heart too. Do things that make your heart smile, spend time with people who warm it, achieve things that make you so proud it might burst open and let your amazingness flood out and saturate it with gratitude until it can take no more.
One of the best hours of my day is out walking my dogs (and any other dogs I am lucky enough to share some time with). As we know the health benefits of walking are unlimited but for me where I get my immediate gratification (and a huge amount of my enjoyment) is seeing the joy my dogs experience, seeing the spring in their step, their pee-mail fascination and those little pockets of eye contact during every walk that I am fairly sure is my dog’s equivalent of giving me a high five or a gold star.
There have been many studies diving into the link between the human – animal bond and heart health but while some have provided very clear insight into the positive impact of pets others were not so convincing – that said I don’t need to be a research scientist to know that when I am with pets I am a calmer, happier person and that can’t be anything other than positive for my wellbeing.
If you are with RT as part of a team then you are likely going for a walk twice a week as a minimum. Just like nutrition, adding in extra activity won’t only positively impact your heart health but many many other areas of your overall health – everything from your mental health to your brain function and bone density.
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