Self-Care September: De-Stress your Heart and Mind

September is National Self-Care Awareness Month! It’s time to relax, unwind and celebrate the spirit of the month by taking the best possible care of yourself; both your body and your mind. Not only does self-care play an immensely important part in your overall wellbeing, but daily self-maintenance is key to prolonged heart health.

Why is Self-Care So Important?

One of the main benefits of self-care is overall reduced stress. This is where the heart benefits come in. Stress puts tremendous strain on the muscles and fibers in your heart, leading to an increased risk for heart disease and potential cardiac events such a stroke or heart attack. If you think you might be at risk for high stress levels and their related risks, visit your cardiologist and receive a professional stress test in order to properly develop a medically-advised routine for handling stress.

Also, taking care of your body drastically improves heart health, as it maintains maximum function. Here are our best tips for taking care of both your mind and your body!

Physical Self-Care Tips

One of the most important aspects of taking care of yourself is making sure that your body remains in its most pristine possible condition. A healthy lifestyle not only helps your mindset, lengthens your life expectancy, and improves body function, it can also help your heart.

A proper diet is immensely crucial in order to stay healthy. Eating the right food can help you combat digestive issues, fight off obesity, and most importantly, nurture your body to give it the proper fuel that it craves. Eating foods that are low in saturated fats and have moderate levels of sodium are great ways to keep your heart pumping as well as it can. Additionally, exercise is great for heart health. This is especially true for cardio exercises that get your heart rate up and consequentially strengthens your heart muscles.

Mental Self-Care Tips

As previously mentioned, self-care is important for stress relief. Taking some time everyday to focus on bettering your headspace can have huge tangible impacts on your daily happiness and overall mental health. Daily habits such as meditation, yoga, reading, or even listening to music can bring you mental clarity while also releasing tension and stress. Relaxing exercises such as yoga can be both mentally stress-relieving while also having the added benefits of stretching your muscles and getting your heart rate up.

Additionally, taking a break from stressful aspects of your life every once and a while can help you stay leveled and happy. If you find yourself absorbed in work, errands, social media, or other affairs more than you’d like, try detoxing from them for a brief period of time in order to regain clarity, or take a much-needed vacation.  

Participate in Self-Care Awareness Month this September

Overall, self-care doesn’t necessarily mean one particular thing, it looks different for every unique individual. For some people, it’s heavy exercise and daily meditation, but for others, it might be unplugging from the world for the weekend or taking a peaceful walk alone. Develop a routine that fits into your unique lifestyle but remember that none of these options should replace proper medical care. For clinical stress management to address how your stress is affecting your heart, reach out to our experienced team at the CardioVascular Group.  

Click here for more information about National Self-Care Awareness Month, or if you’d like to share your ideas with us on social media, tag us at @cvgcares and use the hashtags #SelfCareAwarenessMonth #selflove #selfcarechallenge.