While Exercising

But when you’re stressed steps you can take to because you’re stuck reduce and eliminate in traffic and late for a stress. These include: meeting, the hormones serve no purpose. • Laughter Nonetheless, they’re • Meditation released and chronic • Participating in stress means that they’re activities that bring you released often. In this joy situation, they cause • Finding a community of damage to your cells. friends This damage at the cellular your family level can and does occur • Reducing or eliminating everywhere in your body, triggers including your heart and • Deep breathing arteries. Additionally. When • Progressive relaxation you’re stressed your heart • Yoga rate and blood pressure increase. It causes your Learn to notice when heart to work harder, but you’re feeling stressed and unlike the hard work from find methods to reduce it. exercise, you don’t get You might go for a walk or the beneficial hormones practice deep breathing that exercise provides. for a few minutes. You’ll Chronic stress also causes not only feel happier and overeating and has more relaxed, you’ll also been linked to insomnia, enjoy better heart health. obesity, and a number of Additionally, a good However, there are other • Spending time with other issues that can lead However, there’s one step to heart disease. that we haven’t talked about and that’s the There is good news. importance of knowing and tracking your Exercise and a heart numbers. We’ve talked healthy diet both help about different blood your body manage the cholesterol levels and effects of stress and can we’ve also talked about actually reduce your stress. blood pressure and heart rate. night’s sleep can also help However, we haven’t really your body manage stress. discussed how to measure those numbers, how often to measure them, and why the numbers are important. So let’s take a look at that next.

The Importance of Regular Health Screenings

The next time you’re at your doctor’s office make sure that you get the critical numbers. We’re talking about your:

• Cholesterol • Blood pressure • Blood Sugar • Weight

These numbers are risk factors. We’ve talked about high blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and blood sugar as it relates to type 2 diabetes. We’ve also talked about how being overweight is a risk factor for heart disease. Let’s break the numbers down for you quickly and talk about what the numbers mean.

Cholesterol

A total cholesterol score of less than 180 mg/dL is considered optimal. This is your HDL and your LDL numbers combined. Of course you want your HDL to be as high as possible and your LDL to be significantly lower.

Your doctor will take a after a meal or a glucose blood test to measure drink. The test measures your cholesterol and work the amount of glucose in with you to understand your blood. Normal blood the numbers and what sugar levels are generally your next steps may be. less than 100 mg/dL after Sometimes cholesterol fasting for at least 8 hours. can be controlled with diet Your blood pressure your diastolic pressure and it’s the lowest pressure. lifestyle changes or they and exercise. Sometimes Finally, you probably know medications like statins are your weight. You’ll want recommended. to meet with your doctor to talk about a healthy Blood Pressure weight for your age, body Ideally, your blood They’ll be able to give you pressure will be less a guideline about where than 130/80 mm Hg. you should be. is usually measured at Knowing your numbers the beginning of every gives you the information doctor’s appointment. you need to make Ask the nurse what your educated decisions about measurements were. your health and wellbeing. The top number is your However, the key to systolic pressure, and making changes and that measures the peak following through on your pressure in the arteries. heart healthy decisions The bottom number is can be challenging. Your doctor may again Getting Heart Healthy recommend diet and One Small Step at a Time composition, and gender. may put you on blood So you go to the doctor pressure medication if you and the doctor says, “Lose have high blood pressure. weight, change your diet, exercise, and reduce your Blood Sugar stress.” You walk out the door thinking, “okay. I Blood sugar levels aren’t know what to do.” Then generally tested unless you get home and start the doctor believes that trying to implement you may be prediabetic dozens of lifestyle changes or diabetic. They’ll take only to realize that trying your blood before and to tackle that many new habits all at once is really hard. The key to lasting change is to make one focused and positive step at a time. Identify a priority and start working on that goal. For example, you might swap out your daily soda and sugary coffee drink for water. Once you’ve established that habit you might start walking for thirty minutes a day. Then you can focus on adding more fruits and vegetables to every meal. Each step helps you get closer to a lifestyle that will keep your heart healthy for years to come. Each small step is important. You can live a heart healthy life and significantly reduce your risk of suffering from the biggest killer in the country. Start today. Make one small change to your lifestyle and improve your heart health.

What to Do If You Get Chest Pain While Exercising

When you experience chest pains several thought processes might begin to take place. You may wonder if you are having a heart attack. You might also be doing something physically strenuous, and think your pain is associated with that physical activity and not a sign of a possibly dangerous heart problem. The health of your heart is much too important to ignore, so knowing exactly what to do when you experience chest pain while exercising could prove to be a bit of lifesaving knowledge.

The First Step – Stop What You Are Doing

Let’s say you are jogging, and you begin to feel a tightening or constriction in your chest. Even though you may not be experiencing a symptom of a dangerous heart condition, you should stop jogging immediately. The same applies to lifting weights, cycling or performing body weight exercises. Your specific activity does not matter, only that you stop exerting yourself physically if you experience chest pains of any kind.

somewhere calm and comfortable to relax. Let your breathing return to normal. If your chest pain goes away, that could or could not be a good sign. Whatever physical activity you were performing may have caused some pain in your chest muscles. On the other hand, you could have been overstressing your heart, and when you stop working out or exercising your heart rate returned to normal and the pain disappeared.

Diagnosing Your Chest Pains

So, how do you tell if the pain you are feeling in your chest is a sign of heart problems or just muscle soreness? The truth is, it can be very difficult to differentiate those 2 issues. You should remember that almost all heart attacks start slowly. You will first feel a very low level of discomfort. You may feel a little pressure or squeezing, or of feeling that you are “full” right in the middle of your chest. It is not uncommon for this pain to come and go, but you should definitely seek medical attention if this experience continues for more than a few minutes after you stop exercising. Chest Pains with Chest Pains Plus Breathing Problems Discomfort in Other Parts If an unnatural lack of breath accompanies your Physical discomfort while chest pains while you are exercising is common. physically active, this is a You probably know how classic sign that a heart different parts of your attack may be on the way. body feel when you are The key here is look out for when you are understanding the natural physically active is if chest breathing patterns you pains are accompanied display during physical by discomfort or pressure activity. If your breathing in your arms, jaw, back, is more difficult than usual neck or stomach. This while you are exercising combination can predict or working out, and chest the onset of a heart pains are present, you attack or cardiovascular should consult a doctor condition. immediately. serious heart problem. of Your Body working out. One thing to In all cases, if you feel Chest Pains and Dizziness pain in your chest while exercising or working out, Sometimes merely stop what you are doing bending over and rising immediately. Listen to too quickly can cause your body. It will send you you to feel lightheaded. signals that something is However, if you experience wrong. This may be in the dizziness and chest form of mild discomfort pains at the same time, from muscle pain, or it especially when you could be delivering a red are exerting yourself alert message that you physically, you should stop need immediate medical exercising immediately. attention. If you are Dizziness can lead to a chest pain while exercising physical injury when you is a sign of physical or are working out because cardiac stress, don’t it throws your balance off. take the risk of ignoring This is also a sign that you the pain. Seek medical may be experiencing a attention immediately. uncertain whether your

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