Last week we celebrated the spirit of the heart with all the glory and love of Valentine’s Day. We shared ways to find love through self-love and fun DIY activities.
This week our heart broke as we looked in to three cold heart facts about women’s hearts:
1. Heart Disease is the #1 leading killer of women of all races in the U.S.
2. 1 in 3 women will die from heart disease, that’s approximately one woman per minute
3. Within six years of having a heart attack, about 46% of women become disabled with heart failure.
My heart started to race as I read all the facts about women and heart disease, which ironically wasn’t a healthy reaction because stress is one of many risk factors associated with heart disease. So instead of continuing here with more scary facts about heart disease, here’s what we want you to do – stop reading this post. Yes, you read that right, we’re actually telling you to stop reading this post.
Instead, we want you to take the time you would have taken to read this post and put it towards stress reducing activities. Here’s a list of 3 simple stress reducing activities you can do wherever you are right now and if that doesn’t do it for you, check out Deepak Chopra’s Top Tips to Reduce Stress.
1. Just smile. The mere act of putting on a smile helps get the endorphins flowing. We’re serious. Try it.
2. Stretch. Stress restricts proper blood flow causing your muscles to tense up. Try these stress- reducing exercises right at the comfort of your desk.
3. Take a silly pic of yourself on your phone and send it to your best friend with a message of love. It will make her smile (stress reducing tip #1 above) and it will make you feel good to know you did something to cheer up another.