Part 2: Loving Your Heart
February is American Heart Month, a great time to learn about your heart. Remember, heart disease can happen at any age.
To review a list of risk factors and discover things you can do now to take control of your heart health, visit Heart Disease: It Can Happen at Any Age.
If you missed Part 1, Your Amazing Heart, click here.
Hearty Beliefs
You’ll most likely live your entire life without ever seeing your own heart up close and personal. Sad, I know.
Weighing in at a mere 8 (women) to 10 ounces (men), the heart is often overlooked and taken for granted.
What we don’t see, we tend to ignore. So, how has a part of the body we’ve never seen become the universal symbol for love?
The Greeks believed the heart was the seat of the spirit. The Egyptians thought emotions and reasoning rose from the heart. The Chinese associate the heart as the core of happiness.
The ancient Romans believed a vein — called vena amoris — extended from the 4th finger of the left hand directly to the heart. Grooms would place a ring on the bride’s 4th finger because of this vein.
To this day, Americans still welcome the non-human creature, Cupid (son of Venus, the goddess of love), into our Valentine’s rituals. Cupid shoots arrows into human hearts, which then overpoweringly directs feelings of love toward other people.
Whatever you believe concerning the love/heart connection, there is one fact we all share: everyone loves their own heart!
Show Some Love
The problem is, most people don’t show it. The best way to love your heart is to take care of it.
Here’s a simple first step you can take today to show your heart how much you care.
Get Active
Your heart craves excitement. It longs to beat faster and pump harder a bit every day.
If you listen close, you’ll hear your heart crying out to take the stairs instead of the elevator or to park your car in the far parking lot in order to walk to your destination.
Your heart wants you to get off the couch and take it for a hike, a walk, a bike ride, or a run. Just like your dog, it needs a daily dose of activity.
Decide today to spend some quality time with your heart . . . you do love your heart, don’t you?
Click through for Part 3: The Desires of Your Heart. Click back to see Part 1: Your Amazing Heart.
Here’s to your heart health!
Joolz
