Wellness

About one-third of Americans have high blood pressure, which raises your risk for heart disease and stroke. If you don’t have high blood pressure, you can take steps to prevent it. These healthy habits can help you keep your blood pressure normal:

• Eating healthy foods and limiting salt and alcohol intake.
• Being physically active.
• Maintaining a healthy weight.

When it comes to matters of the heart, there’s usually hope. Lifestyle changes can dramatically lower your risk for most kinds of heart disease, including the most common type, coronary artery disease (CAD), which can lead to a heart attack.

To help protect your heart:

• Eat foods that are high in fiber, and low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance in your blood. When there is too much, it builds up on the walls of your arteries and can slow down or stop blood from getting to your heart. In fact, the higher your blood cholesterol, the greater your risk for developing heart disease or having a heart attack.

There are different kinds of cholesterol in your blood.… Read the rest

Do you always have excuses when it comes to physical activity? Not enough time? Bad weather? No fun?

Being active is important to your health, so it’s time for you to look at why you can’t fit it into your day – and then find ways that you can!

Have to work through lunch? Try taking three 10-minute walks throughout the day instead.… Read the rest

You hear a lot about aerobic activity for your heart, but what about your muscles? You use them for everything you do – from getting out of bed to brushing your teeth and driving.

Keeping your muscles strong not only helps you stay active, but also protects you from injury, disability and the effects of aging.… Read the rest

Are you pumped and ready for action? Not so fast! You should always warm up before you exercise.

Warming up loosens your muscles and increases your heart rate, breathing, blood flow and temperature. All of these changes help prepare your body for activity, so you can enjoy the full benefits of your workout and help protect yourself against injury.… Read the rest

A few pounds can make a big difference when it comes to diabetes. If you have the condition, your body either has trouble making enough of a hormone called insulin or can’t make any at all. Insulin helps break down the food your cells use for energy. When your body can’t break down this energy, you end up with high levels of sugar in your blood.… Read the rest

It’s hard to make healthy choices when you’re stressed. If you never seem to have time to take care of yourself, you might need to look at your priorities.

Where does your time go? Are you enjoying life and staying active? Or do you find yourself mostly staring at a screen or running errands?

An activity log is a good way to track what you do throughout your day.… Read the rest