February: Healthy Heart Month

By Cheryl Jones-Reardon | Last updated Feb 7, 2010, 2:26 pm

February offers us two special days that focus on the heart. Valentine’s Day is centered on loving relationships and romance…our emotional health. Go Red for Women raises awareness of cardiovascular disease and stroke…our physical health.

What does having a healthy heart mean to you?

We’ve all been educated about what it takes to have a healthy heart from a physical perspective. We know that we need to engage in regular cardiovascular exercise and we need to stay away from fatty foods.

Cheryl Jones-Reardon, who holds a master’s degree in exercise science from the University of Connecticut and a certificate in spirituality from St. Joseph College, has joined the Watchdog team.

What we haven’t heard much about is how to create a healthy heart from an emotional perspective. So the theme of my February articles will be communication. The intention is to help you to improve your relationships at home and at work. This is good for heart health!

The quality of our relationships can either positively or negatively affect our health.

You know what I mean, right? I bet you can think of people in your life who bring out the best in you. When you leave their presence or after you get off the phone with them, you feel energized and positive. Then there are those people who have a negative effect on you. They leave you feeling down and depleted of energy. Can you think of someone like this?

Of course, it works both ways. We are affecting other people, too. What we say and what we do affects those around us. Unfortunately, unless someone communicates with us, we may not know how we are affecting them.

For this week, I invite you to try this. See if you can notice the effect that people are having on you. You may be surprised by what you discover.

Try to do this without judging them or your relationship…just be aware and be curious. How do you feel when you are with a particular person? What are your thoughts? What sensations do you notice in your body?

Sometimes when we’re with certain people, we feel stress. We might notice our heart rate increase, a ‘lump in the throat” or literally a “pain in the neck”!

Being aware of how people are affecting you is the first step in improving your relationships and your heart health.

I look forward to hearing from you!