Heart

… the heart likes to be calm.

The Heart likes things to be calm – light meals, moderate exercise, fresh air, good stress management, and time alone. Today we'd like to share a few suggestions for heart health.

As an indispensable anchor, our life revolves around our heart, both physically and spiritually. The heart is the most important muscle in our body and THE synonym for love, relationships, and the driving force of life. And that's how we should care for it: with love and constant nurture.

The heartbeat sets the pace of our lives. A healthy heart and circulatory system ensure a healthy sense of well-being. The heart pumps approximately 300 liters of blood per hour through the lungs and throughout the body. This supplies all organs and body tissues with oxygen, nutrients, and neurotransmitters. On its return journey to the heart, the blood carries metabolic products and carbon dioxide. These metabolic products are excreted by the kidneys and liver. Carbon dioxide is exhaled through the lungs. Veins carry the deoxygenated blood to the heart. Arteries carry the oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body. The large veins and arteries branch out, becoming increasingly finer, into the capillaries.

In order to keep the transport routes across this delicate network strong, a mindful lifestyle and healthy nutrition are essential.

How do we support our heart health?

• Light whole-food cuisine with lots of vegetables, salad and valuable oils with omega-3 fatty acids.
• Regular exercise promotes blood flow to the heart muscle and can lower elevated blood pressure. Preferably outdoors. Every step is the right one to improve your physical performance. It's never too late!
• Do you take things "to heart" a lot? In that case, the "autonomic nervous system" reacts immediately. This system consists of the stimulating, sympathetic nervous system and the calming, parasympathetic nervous system. When we are under "pressure," the autonomic nervous system increases our heart rate and blood pressure. With constant stress, the parasympathetic system becomes unbalanced. This can lead to cardiovascular disease. Take time for yourself to "calm down," to "listen to yourself," and to treat yourself and your heart to relaxation. Can't you do this on your own? Find a group to learn meditation techniques, yoga exercises, or other stress-reduction programs that suit you. Ultimately, it's always a personal matter of the heart.