Breathe deep, calm down and improve your health

Are you doing the right things every day to protect your heart?

You are all very aware that eating right and exercising on a regular basis is mandatory for keeping your heart beating strong.

Stress, however, is another story.

What is your stress level and how are you managing it? Are you making it worse? Did you know that there is a direct correlation between stress and coronary heart disease? That’s some frightening news!

Do you have damaging behavioral habits that you allow stress to trigger? Are you smoking, participate in heavy alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and eating crappy processed foods?

I have heard all the excuses from my clients and none of the above will help with stress.

If you care about your heart, here are a few simple steps you can take to calm your mind: Deep breathing exercises, yoga, medication, journaling and, of course, exercise.

You don’t need to run a 5K; you can simply take a nice walk.

Your health should be a priority in your life.

If you are feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders with stress from family, finances or work, take some time to focus on you and positive changes that you can make today.

Listen to your heart. We all have stress and we all have a choice on how we handle it.

Natalie Dreger is a certified fitness trainer and can be reached at nataliedreger1@gmail.com.