February is the shortest month of the year, the month when your finances begin to recover from your end-of-year extravagance. It is also the month of St. Valentine’s Day, the celebration of love day. This is quite apt because February is also Heart Health Awareness Month.
Doctors, dieticians, and other health practitioners advise that eating a diet of unprocessed, nutritious food and incorporating exercise into your daily routine is good for heart health. Just like you, I’ve heard that litany before but what I hadn’t heard before is that love is good for your heart.
How is love good for your heart?
According to New York cardiologist and author Dr. Sandeep Jauhar
“People who have healthy, loving relationships have better heart health.”
Wow! it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. When you experience love your brain releases hormones that are good for your heart. This results in a stronger and healthier heart. A relationship that causes you grief, disillusionment, and heartache is literally breaking your heart!
Your heart needs love
Well, what are you waiting for? “People who have healthy, loving relationships have better heart health.” So go get you some love and allow those feel-good hormones to do their thing! Right? unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Finding love is usually like searching for a needle in a haystack and in a pandemic, it’s much more difficult.
Does this mean that the lovelorn will all die of broken hearts? Not quite, it means that it is important to take good care of your heart. Here is a good resource to learn the dos and don’ts of caring for your heart.
5 Things to Keep Your Heart Healthy
- Eat healthy fats, NOT trans fats.
- Practice good dental hygiene, floss daily.
- Get enough sleep.
- Don’t sit for too long at one time.
- Avoid smoking and secondhand smoke.
Whether you do or don’t have romantic love in your life, you owe it to yourself to show your heart some love.
