Heart and Lung Health
from Living Older, Living Better! by Katrina Gwinn, MD
Heart Health
The first step, of course, for a healthy heart is to
cover the basics — eat well, manage your weight
and exercise. If you take care of yourself, you're
essentially giving stress less for your heart to
work with—and a healthy body to help it do its job.
Change what you can, accept what you can't, as
the proverb tells us. Successful agers typically
feel in control of their day-to-day lives, but they
don't fret about issues they can't control.
Run in Social Circles. Study after study shows
social support makes a measurable difference in
how we cope with stress and how we age.
Exercise is the solution for pretty much every
health problem, but it especially helps heart and
lung health.
Get more sleep. When you start to lose sleep,
your body responds the way it always does in a
crisis — it activates the stress response.
The first step, of course, for a healthy heart is to
cover the basics — eat well, manage your weight
and exercise. If you take care of yourself, you're
essentially giving stress less for your heart to
work with—and a healthy body to help it do its job.
Change what you can, accept what you can't, as
the proverb tells us. Successful agers typically
feel in control of their day-to-day lives, but they
don't fret about issues they can't control.
Run in Social Circles. Study after study shows
social support makes a measurable difference in
how we cope with stress and how we age.
Exercise is the solution for pretty much every
health problem, but it especially helps heart and
lung health.
Get more sleep. When you start to lose sleep,
your body responds the way it always does in a
crisis — it activates the stress response.
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Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.
Breathing comes naturally. Why should you
think about, or practice, what you already do on
your own, without thinking?
The way you breathe can affect the way you
feel. As we experience stress, we tend to breath
in faster, shallower breaths. We don’t even
notice this is happening. Practicing full, deep
breathing can help reduce tension and increase
relaxation.
For people with chronic pain, the breath is often
also drawn in sharply, and never completely
pushed out. This can add to the pain if it is in
the back, torso, or neck, because it adds strain
to the muscles that are working hard to draw
breathe in, but can’t relax to let the breath out to
the same degree. This is why deep breathing
exercises can help the body relax in a way that
may help reduce chronic pain. It is worth it to
add breathing to your other exercises every day,
or at least, every other day.
Breathing comes naturally. Why should you
think about, or practice, what you already do on
your own, without thinking?
The way you breathe can affect the way you
feel. As we experience stress, we tend to breath
in faster, shallower breaths. We don’t even
notice this is happening. Practicing full, deep
breathing can help reduce tension and increase
relaxation.
For people with chronic pain, the breath is often
also drawn in sharply, and never completely
pushed out. This can add to the pain if it is in
the back, torso, or neck, because it adds strain
to the muscles that are working hard to draw
breathe in, but can’t relax to let the breath out to
the same degree. This is why deep breathing
exercises can help the body relax in a way that
may help reduce chronic pain. It is worth it to
add breathing to your other exercises every day,
or at least, every other day.
Smoking is a major risk factor for Heart and Lung problems (as well as for many other problems, such
as Cancer). However, its hard to quit. Smokefree.gov has online materials to help you quit and also
has information on state "Quitlines" (hot lines that will give you moral support while you are trying to
quit smoking). Call 1-877-44U-QUIT (1-877-448-7848)or visit online, http://www.smokefree.gov
as Cancer). However, its hard to quit. Smokefree.gov has online materials to help you quit and also
has information on state "Quitlines" (hot lines that will give you moral support while you are trying to
quit smoking). Call 1-877-44U-QUIT (1-877-448-7848)or visit online, http://www.smokefree.gov
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