Category: Women's cardiac risk factors

– posts here focus on how to address your risk factors to help prevent heart disease

Got a minute? Try this mini-relaxation exercise for your heart health

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

You’re waiting nervously in the dentist’s chair, or white-knuckling a bout of aircraft turbulence, or getting ready to deliver that big presentation at work – or even just wondering how you’ll remain sane given all you need to do between now and Christmas! – and you can already feel the stress tightening its death grip on your whole body, thus increasing the levels of stress hormones that are now coursing through your bloodstream. Not good for your heart!

Instead of tensing up, practise three mini-relaxation techniques, courtesy of Harvard University Medical School’s newsletter Healthbeat, so that you’ll be ready to try them even when time is tight.

When you have only 1 minute:

  •  Place your hand just beneath your navel so you can feel the gentle rise and fall of your belly as you breathe. Breathe in slowly. Pause for a count of three. Breathe out. Pause for a count of three. Continue to breathe deeply for one minute, pausing for a count of three after each inhalation and exhalation.

When you have only 2 minutes:

  • Count down slowly from 10 to zero. With each number, take one complete breath, inhaling and exhaling. For example, breathe in deeply saying “10” to yourself. Breathe out slowly. On your next breath, say “nine,” and so on. If you feel lightheaded, count down more slowly to space your breaths further apart. When you reach zero, you should feel more relaxed. If not, go through the exercise again.

When you have only 3 minutes:

  •  While sitting down, take a break from whatever you’re doing and check your body for tension. Relax your facial muscles and allow your jaw to fall open slightly. Let your shoulders drop. Let your arms fall to your sides. Allow your hands to loosen so that there are spaces between your fingers. Uncross your legs or ankles. Feel your thighs sink into your chair, letting your legs fall comfortably apart. Feel your shins and calves become heavier and your feet grow roots into the floor. Now breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly. Each time you breathe out, try to relax even more.

 

See also:   McGill University’s Centre for Studies on Human Stress for several tools to help cope with chronic stress.

♥

NOTE from CAROLYN:   I wrote more about how chronic stress affects your heart in my book, A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease.  You can ask for it at your local library or bookshop, or order it online (paperback, hardcover or e-book) at Amazon – or order it directly from my publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press (use their code HTWN to save 30% off the list price).

.

Q: What has helped you cope with daily stress? 

Yes, French women DO get fat!

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 1 Comment

french eiffel5

Remember that book  that came out a few years ago that explained to us the “French paradox” – why don’t French women get fat?   Anybody who has, like me, been unable to resist a Paris boulangerie without stopping to indulge has marvelled at the ability of French women to remain so thin and gorgeous in spite of all those exquisite croissants, crusty baguettes, heavenly sauces, divine cheese and oh, those wines.

Author Mireille Guilano (who, incidentally, is thin and gorgeous herself) wrote French Women Don’t Get Fat in 2004, explaining that their secret is in the eating habits of the women in France. Continue reading “Yes, French women DO get fat!” →

Heart attack: did you bring this on yourself?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

food junk

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

In the early hours, days and weeks following my heart attack, many conversations with family and friends started the same way: “How could this have happened to YOU?” – followed by an expectant pause during which I was supposed to explain myself.  If only I’d been a chain-smoker, or had been living with diabetes, or hadn’t been a distance runner for almost 20 years.   It would have somehow seemed more comforting to them, because it might mean that my heart disease was self-inflicted, that something like this could never touch them.  Continue reading “Heart attack: did you bring this on yourself?” →

Do women need to worry about cholesterol?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

cholesterolby Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Physician  does a creative job of clearing up some confusing questions about cholesterol in his always enlightening “Musings of a Distractible Mind“.

He starts off by reminding us that the current protocols for treating high cholesterol date back to before he was practicing medicine.

“Some smart scientists had noticed that people with high cholesterol had a higher risk of heart attack. More scientists got together and decided that, based on the evidence, keeping a low cholesterol number was a good idea. To celebrate their decision, they went out to a dinner of bacon cheeseburgers and donuts.”     Continue reading “Do women need to worry about cholesterol?” →