How a Hug Can Protect Your Heart

What you and your blood pressure really need for Valentine’s Day.
Love does far more than make the world go around. It helps remove plaque from the arteries, boosts the body’s immune response, relieves stress, and lengthens life.
Do you have high blood pressure? A hug from a close friend or family member can lower hypertension. In fact, a  study at Brigham Young University shows that women who are “married with children” have the lowest ambulatory blood pressure of any group.
Family and close social networks are critical to mental health, an underlying factor in heart disease. Interacting with two or more close friends or family members weekly prompts recovery even from serious mental illness.
I couldn’t agree more! For Valentine’s Day—and throughout the year—affirm your love for those you treasure. It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving!
That’s why I recommend affirmations and journaling in my books. By writing down your feelings, you can lessen the stress in your life.
Research finds that keeping a journal can reduce physical symptoms of pain and illness, while increasing an overall sense of wellbeing. For an added benefit, the National Weight Control Registry says that people who kept a journal while losing 30 pounds were able to maintain weight loss for over a year.
A Grateful Heart
While it’s important to record all your feelings, be sure to write about the wonders that you discover each day. Taking small steps, like using the words “even if” can make a difference. Even if I’m stuck in traffic, I have a stunning sunset to watch—and plenty of gas.
Take a break each day—just stop, breathe deeply, and look around you. Remember what your kids were like at the ages captured in pictures on your desk or why you chose a particular print for your wall. Really look at it again to appreciate it fully.
Think about someone or something in your life that you love, then freeze frame that image in your mind. This helps balance your loving emotions with your physical heart, suggests Blair Justice, PhD, professor-emeritus of psychology at the University of Texas School of Public Health. This kind of “cardiac-coherence” can lower the risk for coronary events.
That Loving Touch
Research also reveals that touch, like that hug I mentioned earlier, can play a vital role in heart health and longevity, accessing the part of your nervous system that calms stress and produces fewer stress hormones. Human touch not only lowers blood pressure but also creates a sense of connection, comfort, and safety that we all need in today’s high-stress world.
The largest organ in the body is our skin, so is it any wonder that touch has therapeutic benefits? Giving a hug, instead of a handshake, can enhance mood and create a sense of overall wellness. And massage has been proven to relieve anxiety and depression.
This Valentine’s Day, offer the one you love a massage (who knows where that may lead). After all, the act of lovemaking can burn extra calories very enjoyably!
Need Adrenal Support?
If your libido isn’t what it used to be, your adrenals may be the cause. Winter is the season to support these all-important glands, as I explain in Fat Flush for Life.
Vitamin C is key to the synthesis of adrenal hormones, and the need for this important antioxidant increases 75% during menopause. You may benefit from a time-release formula of this water-soluble vitamin like Time-C .
Zinc contributes to healthy sexual response in both men and women. Alcohol and refined foods deplete your body’s supply of this essential mineral, so consider swapping the wine and dessert for oysters on Valentine’s Day.
If a 24/7 lifestyle is slowing you down, consider Adrenal Formula, which contains both vitamin C and zinc along with other synergistic cofactors like the energy-enhancing L-tyrosine that also supports the thyroid. This ultimate energy formula is made with New Zealand glandulars, which are free of antibiotics, environmental pollutants, growth hormones, and other unwanted substances.
Sources:
Fat Flush for Life
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20077164
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20074121
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19638635
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19385422
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19761951
www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/valentines-day-good-heart
-Edge On Health, Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman