Your brain and heart may be miles apart in your body, but they’re in constant conversation. Hormones, nerve signals, and your circulatory system link how you think and feel with how your heart functions, so your mental health directly influences your heart health, and vice versa.
Stress
Stress is your mind and body’s reaction to real or perceived threats. Each episode can trigger higher blood pressure, faster breathing and heart rate, increased oxygen use and blood flow to your muscles, more perspiration, and tighter muscles. When this becomes your “new normal,” your risk of heart disease rises significantly.
Stress-Reducing Meditation
Stress can seriously impact heart health, but simple meditation practices can help trigger the body’s relaxation response, lowering stress, supporting immunity, and building resilience for future challenges.
Here are three simple ways to reset and refocus:
- Sit or lie down in a quiet space and repeat a single word, phrase, or sound for 20 minutes, gently bringing your attention back whenever your mind wanders.
- Try progressive relaxation: starting at your feet and moving up to your head, “breathe” into each muscle group and release the tension as you exhale, or gently tighten and then relax each area.
- Visualize your body clearing out what no longer serves you, for example, imagine your arteries releasing plaque and focus on letting that tension and negative energy go.
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