Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare - (Page 36)

You inch along in rush-hour traffic, your mind racing over your to-do list. The unfinished report. Work piled on your desk. The meeting with the boss. All that, and these people won’t get out of your way! You may feel stress, but your heart feels danger. Stress triggers the release of the “flight or fight” hormones, which in earlier times prepared the body to fight or flee from danger. Those pesky waking hormones cortisol and epinephrine flood your system, constricting blood vessels and raising blood pressure. Your heart pumps harder and faster, giving you that pounding-out-of-your-chest feeling. Give your heart a break: Nickens suggests establishing a routine of aerobic exercise, daily meditation and healthful eating, including cutting certain foods. “Sugary foods, high-fat foods and highly processed foods may increase stress,” she says. Off tO WOrk We gO get MOviNg How can working out be good for your heart? Exercising makes the heart beat faster and the blood pressure go up, right? Yes, but now it’s a good thing. “During exercise the systolic, or upper measurement of blood pressure, goes up, but your diastolic goes down,” Kraus says. “After exercise, the blood pressure goes down and stays down for up to 24 hours.” With regular exercise, the amount of work your heart must do is actually reduced. “With regular intense exercise, the resting heart rate lowers, but the volume of blood it pumps is higher. In essence, it’s saving heart rate and that takes a load off the heart,” Kraus says. Give your heart a break: With exercise, you reap what you sow, Kraus says. For example, working out at 70 percent of your maximum heart rate for 30 minutes three times a week will show benefits in three months. A moderate-intensity 30-minute workout three times a week will produce results in six months. You may be asleep, but your heart only has its feet propped up. With the demands of the day finished and blood pressure lowered, it slows down by 10 to 30 beats. Still, it’s performing essential duties, such as sending extra oxygen and nutrient-enriched blood to muscles and cells while pumping out the trash that has accumulated. This downtime is vital for rejuvenating all systems of the body. “Getting the proper amount of sleep is important for the body and the heart,” Nickens says. “Not enough sleep means you’re not recuperating. But getting too much sleep is bad, too, maybe because you’re not getting enough exercise. Seven to eight hours is what you need.” Give your heart a break: Sleep well. For tomorrow you get up and do it all again! Nighty, Night 36 Vim & Vigor • SUM M ER 2 011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare
Contents
Community Message
When Stroke Strikes, Seconds Count
Rays of Hope Fight Cancer
Girl Talk
Say What?
Action Plan
Like This? Try That!
Being George Clooney
A Day in the Life of Your Heart
Unexpected Heroes
Get in Gear
A Real Lifesaver
A Real Lifesaver
Spotlight on Community Hospital
Spotlight on St. Catherine Hospital
Spotlight on St. Mary Medical Center
A Safer Hospital Stay

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare