“A grateful heart dresses in colors and, believe me… it only attracts life and abundance”, says the wise popular phrase, which contains a truth about a fundamental component for the heart: emotions.
“If you combine regular physical activity, three times a week, an average of 30 minutes, with positive emotions, you are ensuring a healthy heart,” says Dr. Gilberto Castillo, cardiologist at the Medical Center.
If you add a balanced diet to these components, then the heart will be that powerful motor that will move the body in all its dimensions without setbacks.
Several studies show that there is an association between excess stress and cardiac risk, because the chemical substances in the body that contribute to the disease can be modified.
The classic definition of stress is clear: “any real or imagined threat and your body’s response to it.” And if we live without time for exercise and at a fast pace, the “threat” is potential.
All your feelings, positive or negative, create physiological changes. Your skin, heart rate, digestion, joints, muscle energy levels, hair, and myriad cells and organs can change with every emotion.
Stress plays a huge role in your immune system and can impact your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, brain chemistry, blood sugar levels, and hormone balance. It can even “break” your heart (broken heart syndrome or strong emotions that can damage the motor organ). It is increasingly seen as a marker of cardiovascular risk.
“Modern women are more susceptible to stress, they are more vulnerable to emotions, to feeling sadness and anxiety, more pressure due to their double role at home and work, according to studies,” says Dr. Castillo.
Controlling stress can improve emotional and physical health. Imaging studies of the heart and brain, taken from people, found that emotions such as anger, sadness, anxiety and depression, especially, caused changes or alterations in heart rhythm and brain functions. The negative ones, with high levels of toxic hormonal chemicals in the bloodstream.
While positive emotions produce relaxation at the level of all body systems, allowing the transport of oxygen to the brain.
Feeling is from the heart, with a direct connection to the brain. Studies affirm that around 80% of diseases have an emotional origin. That only 5% of diseases, including cancer, have a genetic origin, that is to say that 95% of our health comes from our surroundings or environment in which we live.
Therefore, that a laugh leaves you breathless and your heart exhausted, should not worry you. On the contrary, an explosion of joy is a blast of oxygen that is surely saving you from a heart attack. Scientific studies confirm that joy, excitement and enthusiasm are true protectors of heart health.
“It is known from studies that positive, spiritual, optimistic, and happy people get sick less, recover faster, and have less risk of cardiovascular disease, such as a heart attack,” says Dr. Castillo.
In other words, a good mood equals a good heart rate, which incidentally reduces the risk of diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.
“If to this cheerful heart, we add “a healthy lifestyle, a diet low in fat and rich in fruits and vegetables, the practice of a sport or regular physical activity, rest assured that you will keep away cardiovascular disease and many other illnesses”, says the cardiologist at the Medical Center.
If you want to take care of your heart, reduce or avoid stimulants, such as coffee, alcohol, and tobacco. Avoid stressful factors, exercise or go for a walk, take regular breaks in the day, naps are important, enjoy relaxing music and playful and social activities.
“Get used to breathing gently and calmly, it will help you relax your muscles. Relaxation techniques, such as yoga, can be very beneficial to lower the level of stress in your life”, says the cardiologist.