Hi! My name is Jennifer, this is my first blog so I just want to tell you a little about me. I am an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and I specialize in hormone health, gut health and celiac disease. I have a passion for wellness and for helping others to be the healthiest, happiest version of themselves.
With February being heart health month, I wanted to focus on something that can support heart health. So, let's talk about meditation and mindfulness. Meditation is to your mind, what sleeping is for your body - rest. I actually just finished a course on meditation so I thought this was a perfect time to talk about it. I have been meditating for years now but not that often or on a daily basis. I would love to get to that though. I am a work in progress :) I used to meditate before going to bed at night and it really helped to clear my mind and helped me get to sleep easier. When I would talk about it people would kind of think it was weird. The problem is they didn't know anything about it. So I finally got my sister to try it, she was like "you are right, I love it!" So you don't know until you actually give it a real try for yourself. The bonus is that it's so good for your health and after hearing some of the heart health benefits I hope you give it a try for yourself!!
Mindfulness and meditation have been shown to have positive effects on heart health. A few of the benefits are: reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate variability (HRV), reducing inflammation, enhancing emotional well-being, and improving sleep. HRV is the measure of the variation in time between heartbeats and is an indicator of autonomic nervous system function. Having a higher HRV is generally associated with better heart health and usually means you are less stressed and happier. Meditation and mindfulness can improve HRV by balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
So first let's talk about stress, we all know its not good for our health. Chronic stress is a significant risk factor for heart disease. In doing mindfulness practices they help to lower stress levels by promoting relaxation and focusing on the present moment, which can reduce the production of stress hormones like cortisol. Also while promoting the relaxation response, that can also help to reduce both systolic and diastolic pressure, thus lowering your overall blood pressure.
Having chronic inflammation in our bodies is not good either. This can cause many issues including heart disease, and mindfulness has also shown to reduce markers of inflammation in the body. One of which being the C-reactive protein (CRP), which helps protect the cardiovascular system.
Meditation can also foster emotional regulation and helps to manage anxiety and depression, both of which are linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Reducing these negative emotional states can have a positive impact on overall heart health.
We all want to get our "beauty sleep", but also good quality sleep is crucial for heart health. Mindfulness and meditation techniques, especially before bed, can improve sleep quality by calming the mind and reducing the time it takes to fall asleep.
Overall, mindfulness and meditation can be part of a holistic approach to maintaining heart health by reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and fostering emotional balance.
Meditation is the practice of quieting ones thoughts. There are many meditation styles and techniques but the two most popular today are transcendental and mindfulness. Transcendental uses a silent mantra repetition, where a mantra (which is a word or phrase), is repeated throughout the session. The mantra gives your mind something to focus on to help keep your mind from wandering off. This is the type of meditation I do because that is what works for me. Mindfulness meditation is rooted in Buddhism. This type is about being aware of your thoughts, feelings, sensations and surroundings through a gentle lens. The purpose is to allow awareness of every thought and emotion as it happens and then to let them go, peacefully without judgement. One is not necessarily better than the other, it's more about meditating in a way that works best for you.
To meditate you don't necessarily need to be sitting on the floor, just make sure you are comfortable. There are just three simple steps for meditation: breathe slowly, keep your mind quiet, and repeat those steps. Keeping your mind quiet simply involves focusing on your breath and if you notice yourself drifting off, you just need to re-focus back to your breathing. This may take time to keep your focus but as with anything the more you practice the easier it will become.
There are so many other things that mindfulness and meditation can help with. Meditation is also said to improve mental clarity and foster creativity. Meditation is a powerful tool that is free, which makes it an easy and beneficial habit to incorporate into your daily routine.
Please come back for future blogs, where I will discuss other topics to help support your health and wellness using a holistic approach.