Whether it’s your daily commute, a tight deadline or an argument with your partner, we all encounter stressful situations. As your list keeps mounting, so does the added stress on your heart. If you think taking a 10-minute break is enough to negate the effects, you should know you could be doing more for your heart health.
The importance of stress management
According to Martin Ehrlich, MD, MPH, Medical Director at the Continuum Center for Health and Healing, meditation and relaxation techniques can be great therapies for maintaining heart health. They also help us tap into and optimize the mind-body connection, which is the impact our emotions and behaviors have on our physical well-being.
“Research proves that our emotional health is linked to our physical well-being,” Dr. Ehrlich says. “Factors like depression, anxiety, hostility and stress can both cause and worsen chronic conditions like heart disease.”
So, just as a healthy diet and daily exercise can protect our heart, meditation can support heart health by reducing stress, anxiety and improving depression. Meditation works by lowering stress hormones (adrenaline, norepinephrine and cortisol). Fewer stress hormones helps to normalize heart rate, lower blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
In addition to managing the underlying risks for heart disease, meditation is an all-around positive. “Meditation doesn’t have any negative side effects, doesn’t cost anything and is a powerful way to turn on the relaxation response,” Dr. Ehrlich says.
Letting the mind take aim
Meditation teaches people to focus the mind on one central thing, such as your breath, a mantra, an image or even a certain emotion, such as the feeling of love. Meditation that lasts between 15 and 45 minutes creates a deep feeling of relaxation that, over time, can improve blood and oxygen flow, and allow the meditator to exert more control of otherwise involuntary factors like tension, heart rate and breathing.
And, it’s not just for heart disease prevention. Research shows meditation can actually help patients avoid serious medical events. Over the course of five years, patients with heart disease who meditated cut their risk of heart attack, stroke and death in half compared to those who didn’t practice it.
Give it a try
If you want to add meditation to your heart-healthy routine, keep these tips in mind:
- Learn from an expert. The Continuum Center for Health and Healing offers group meditation where you can learn the technique and get feedback from a professional. Once you learn how to meditate effectively, you can try self-guided meditation whenever it’s convenient.
- Go with the flow. With any form of meditation, you shouldn’t become frustrated if you’re having trouble focusing your mind. Let your thoughts come and go freely, and eventually you’ll be able to settle your mind.
- Get into the habit. Give yourself a few months of practicing daily meditation for it to become a habit. According to Dr. Ehrlich, learning how to meditate takes practice. “Meditation isn’t always easy,” he says. “It’s really about developing awareness of yourself in the moment, and that takes time to master.”
- Use with caution. Complementary therapies like meditation don’t require a doctor’s referral, but you should inform your primary care physician if you use it. And remember – don’t forego any standard treatments or tests for your heart health.
Learn more about complementary options for heart health at HealthandHealingNY.org. Or, find a doctor who can evaluate your risk factors by visiting chpnyc.org or calling 1-855-411-LWNY (5969).
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