With all the heart shaped goodies and signs around on Valentine’s Day, we are served an important reminder to take an active role in keeping our hearts healthy.  There is little argument on the importance of a healthy heart, however developing strategies to meet this goal can be more difficult.  Proper nutrition and activity levels are both key components in keeping your heart working its best.  Nutritional recommendations are very individualized and vary based on age, weight, current eating habits, and other medical conditions.  If you have specific questions regarding nutritional recommendations do not hesitate to contact our dietician to discuss an individualized plan of action.  When planning to achieve proper activity levels, it is important to remember that keeping your heart healthy does not require hours at a gym and can be achieved through simple lifestyle changes.  Although Midwest weather makes it more difficult to be active outside during these winter months, there are plenty of ways to stay active without having to battle the outdoor elements.  The majority of us have the destructive habit of sitting way too much.  One of the best ways to avoid this and maintain a healthy heart, without even having to touch a machine, is by walking more.  There are plenty of devices out there for counting steps taken throughout the day to monitor how many you are taking which can be a great way to track progress.  If you choose this option, there is no magic number of steps to aim for.  Pick a goal number, and once you are able to achieve that every day for a week or two try increasing the goal.  Although it’s easy to take a walk outside or at the park in the summer months, going to a local mall or store and taking laps around are other options to increase steps while staying warm if you do not belong to a gym.  Other ways to increase activity can be performed in the comfort of your own home.  Make it a habit whenever you’re watching TV to stand-up at each commercial and take a lap around the house, go up and down the stairs once or twice, or perform 5-10 squats.  This option is only limited by your own creativity so find something that fits you!

There are also plenty of other alternatives to conventional exercise that do not involve staring at the calorie counter on cardio machines and wondering why the time seems to be standing still.  People that prefer exercise classes and a group atmosphere would benefit from a course such as Yoga or Pilates.  The benefits of these can address heart health, but also go above and beyond by addressing strength, mobility, balance, and body awareness as well.  If aches and pains are preventing you from exercising, please stop in for a complimentary injury screening to address any physical limitations that are preventing you from reaching your target activity levels.  Whatever way you decide to be more active, make sure you have a plan to achieve your goals and get started right now! 

Happy hearts day to all,

Dave Paczkowski, PT, DPT


                                                               TheraCORE Clinic Locations


                   350 E. Ogden Ave., Ste. 200                                         16622 W. 159th St., Ste. 503
                         Westmont, IL 60559                                                         Lockport, IL 60441
                              (630)908-7430                                                                (815)838-5070


                                                                    www.theracorept.com


                                                 

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Helping your Valentine stay “Heart Healthy”

Valentine’s Day is over and we gave our hearts to the people we love most in our lives.  What better time of year to make sure that the heart we gave so freely is the healthiest heart it can be?  Sometimes the people we care about most need a little help and encouragement in recognizing the habits they should embrace to improve their cardiovascular health so that they can be around for many Valentine’s Days to come!  Here are some ideas to help make improving heart health a shared effort  that can help improve your wellbeing in addition to bringing you closer together with your spouse or loved ones.

Grocery shop together!

Pick certain nights of the week where you each get to pick a healthy recipe to try for dinner that night.  Take your spouse to the grocery store to pick out the ingredients for the meal.  Once the ingredients are gathered, cook together as a couple or a family.  Since you are spending more time in the kitchen now, take time to re-organize the kitchen together.  Replacing less healthy foods with more nutritious options or making them less conspicuous so they are not your first choice when searching for a snack.

Exercise together!

Who says your workout buddy cannot be your spouse?  Sign up to take a class together, or if you are already taking a class, invite your spouse or significant other to see what it is like.  Find something that you both enjoy and you will be more likely to stick with it, all the while spending time together!

Make it a date!

Instead of going out for dinner at a restaurant where it is easy to have your efforts sabotaged, take your spouse out dancing or some other physical activity.  Go for a bike ride or a long walk to get some exercise and get closer with each other.  And keep in mind that being intimate is an excellent form of exercise and decreases stress too!

So this month, make it a point for you and your valentine to implement one of these ideas into your routine.  Hopefully it will lead you both to a more heart healthy lifestyle while bringing you closer together.

- Ryan Schaul, MPT