Holiday Tips to Ease Stress and Live a Longer & Healthier Life
By LeeAnn Sharpe
The holidays always seem to heighten the level of stress in our lives. What should be the most joyous time of the year often turns out to be the most stressful. After the worst year of my life, when stress put me in the hospital with a heart attack, I finally learned how to distress.
So here’s my advice to help you learn how to reduce stress before it has serious detrimental effects on your health. Stress leads to heart disease and strokes, high blood pressure, cancer, anxiety and depression. It can also create serious problems at work and dysfunctional relationships at home. So before you allow stress to control your life, think about these steps to reduce stress, prevent illness and live a happier and longer life.
First, make stress reduction a conscious decision in your life. Before you do anything think about how much stress it will create in your life. Do you need to bake, cook or decorate so much. Maybe take it back a notch. Spread it out over the entire season, not all the week of the holiday. A little each day is better than overload on one or two days.
Second, make your health a priority. We often think about diet and exercise after January 1st when everyone makes their resolutions. And sure we don’t want to deprive ourselves during the holidays. But your health is precious, and nothing is more important than taking care of yourself. So indulge in moderation. Enjoy each bite savoring the taste and smells for much longer than usual. Use all of your senses. Crush greens between your fingers and smell the fresh pine scent. Fest your eyes on each bite and take in the colors and textures before you enjoy the taste. Take a walking tour of your neighborhood or a nearby neighborhood to see the lights and decorations. Pull the family off the coach and toss a football or soccer ball around in the sunshine. Eat right and exercise!
Third, rediscover the love in your life. Tell your family and friends how much they mean to you. Love the animals and wildlife in your life. Did you know watching birds, puppies or kittens and getting that “ahhh how cute” feeling is actually good for your heart! Do whatever you love, read a book, watch a movie, paint, play sports, shop, or whatever gives you pleasure. Doing and being with what you love is good for you. Make the holidays more about the people, and doing what they like with you, than about the gifts. Take your Mom to a Christmas Choir performance. Enjoy a movie with your sibling.
Next embrace your faith and spirituality. Everyone can benefit from the power of prayer, meditation and turning inward for reflection. Much of the baggage we carry can be released when we mentally decide to let go and move on to be healthier and happier. If you stress over the way the dishwasher is loaded, you need to let go and believe the world will go on even if a dish comes out less than optimal. Don’t sweat the small stuff. You need the mental release to set you free. Forgive those who have done you wrong. Release that stress from your life and it’s more a gift to yourself than anyone else.
Love, laugh, enjoy and appreciate life. It’s a choice we make. You control your mind and make the choice to relax and enjoy the small things in life. Listen to the birds and stop to smell the flowers. Do all that you can to be a more relaxed person. Learning to control your stress begins with a conscious commitment to make healthy changes in your life. Just do it. It can save your life. And it can make a happier holiday season.
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Arizona Heart Transplant Uses New Pump
Can you image being strong and healthy, then one day and waking up with a little cough that turns out to be an infection that causes congestive heart failure? That’s what happened to Ruben Delgadillo, 41, of Yuma, Arizona. It changed everything four years ago, setting him up for the battle for his life.
“Before, I would be out playing baseball or bowling. I was a pretty strong guy,” comments Delgadillo, a Produce Manager for Food City in Yuma. “Then my heart got this infection and for four years it got worse. A few months ago I collapsed at work and have been in the hospital since.”
Delgadillo’s heart was failing fast and measures to keep his heart pumping were not enough. He was barely surviving on less than 10% flow of blood. “The doctor at Good Sam referred me to doctors at Mayo Clinic and that’s where they asked me if I wanted to go on this new pump. It was my best option.”
He became the state's first resident to receive the new technology, HeartMate II®, a battery powered pump implanted in his chest, to maintain a steady flow of oxygenated blood until heart transplant surgery could be performed. The pump gave him a normal blood flow, which allowed him to regain strength prior to the heart transplant.
“I started feeling better right away. There’s just a wire coming out of my side to a battery or electric outlet. It didn’t make any sound unless you listened with a stethoscope and then you hear a whirring sound,” he says with a grin. They were just about to release him from the hospital two weeks after the HeartMate II® was implanted, when the call came, they had his new heart on the way.
The transplant surgery August 12th (Scottsdale Mayo Clinic’s 14th since establishing the program last year) went well and only 5 weeks later Ruben Delgadillo is up and around. “I feel great!” he says. “The swelling has gone down and the natural color is returning to my face and legs. The only pain is where the incision is healing. It’s a little tender.”
This weekend he is feeling up to a family reunion in Yuma. “My brothers and sister and Mom will all be there. It will be good to see everyone,” he says with a big smile.
“I feel pretty good. I think I am healing ahead of schedule because I was so strong before. I start physical therapy next week and I’m looking forward to getting stronger.”
“The doctors at Mayo Clinic are the greatest. I was in three hospitals and the Mayo was the best. The doctors came to see me several times a day and were calling all the time to check on me.” But ask him about the food and he emphatically says, ”It was terrible! They gave me these little tiny pancakes. I lost 85 pounds!” He continues to lose weight as the heart healthy low sodium diet continues at home. “My sister Eva watches me real close to be sure I eat right.”
Taking care of his new heart and working toward returning to his life are his full time job for now. “It’s just good to be up and around again. I feel pretty good.”
“Before, I would be out playing baseball or bowling. I was a pretty strong guy,” comments Delgadillo, a Produce Manager for Food City in Yuma. “Then my heart got this infection and for four years it got worse. A few months ago I collapsed at work and have been in the hospital since.”
Delgadillo’s heart was failing fast and measures to keep his heart pumping were not enough. He was barely surviving on less than 10% flow of blood. “The doctor at Good Sam referred me to doctors at Mayo Clinic and that’s where they asked me if I wanted to go on this new pump. It was my best option.”
He became the state's first resident to receive the new technology, HeartMate II®, a battery powered pump implanted in his chest, to maintain a steady flow of oxygenated blood until heart transplant surgery could be performed. The pump gave him a normal blood flow, which allowed him to regain strength prior to the heart transplant.
“I started feeling better right away. There’s just a wire coming out of my side to a battery or electric outlet. It didn’t make any sound unless you listened with a stethoscope and then you hear a whirring sound,” he says with a grin. They were just about to release him from the hospital two weeks after the HeartMate II® was implanted, when the call came, they had his new heart on the way.
The transplant surgery August 12th (Scottsdale Mayo Clinic’s 14th since establishing the program last year) went well and only 5 weeks later Ruben Delgadillo is up and around. “I feel great!” he says. “The swelling has gone down and the natural color is returning to my face and legs. The only pain is where the incision is healing. It’s a little tender.”
This weekend he is feeling up to a family reunion in Yuma. “My brothers and sister and Mom will all be there. It will be good to see everyone,” he says with a big smile.
“I feel pretty good. I think I am healing ahead of schedule because I was so strong before. I start physical therapy next week and I’m looking forward to getting stronger.”
“The doctors at Mayo Clinic are the greatest. I was in three hospitals and the Mayo was the best. The doctors came to see me several times a day and were calling all the time to check on me.” But ask him about the food and he emphatically says, ”It was terrible! They gave me these little tiny pancakes. I lost 85 pounds!” He continues to lose weight as the heart healthy low sodium diet continues at home. “My sister Eva watches me real close to be sure I eat right.”
Taking care of his new heart and working toward returning to his life are his full time job for now. “It’s just good to be up and around again. I feel pretty good.”
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