5 Ways to Show Your Heart Some Love

That Healthy Feeling Just Can’t Be Beat

Ah June, the month of love, marriage, happiness and hope for the future. This is a perfect time to show your heart some love. Doing so can enhance your quality of life and perhaps extend the quantity of your life. Here are five things experts recommend to keep heart disease at bay.

1- Learn to cope with stress. We all have stress, but dealing with it is crucial. The American Heart Association suggests a straightforward coping mechanism: positive self‐talk. Visit www.heart.org for this and other strategies.

2- Strive to alleviate anxiety. Along with stress, anxiety can negatively impact your heart and other physical functions. Find activities that help you overcome periodic or constant worry. Listen to music. Get a massage. Read a book. Sing a song. Exercise, exercise, exercise.

3- Eat well. Wild‐caught salmon is a good nutritional choice. Not only is this fish a great source of Vitamin D and low‐fat protein (if baked or broiled without fatty add‐ons), but it is rich in the omega 3s that are key to circulatory functioning.

4- Floss daily. Although your mouth seems to be a long way away from your heart, periodontal disease has been linked with cardiovascular problems.

5- Laugh often. It’s funny but true: laughing relaxes your blood vessel walls and improves circulation.