If the hustle, bustle, and drama of the holidays sometimes feels like it could give you a heart attack, you’re right. In case the holidays aren’t stressful enough, here’s a fact to add to the load: Globally, heart attacks and other cardiac events peak:
Of course, stress isn’t the only culprit. Holiday parties and visits disrupt your normal routine and expose you to unhealthy habits and practices you might typically avoid. If you already have a cardiovascular condition, such as high blood pressure (HBP, aka hypertension), you need to be extra careful.
At Laurelton Heart Specialists in Rosedale, Queens, New York, our skilled cardiologist, Dr. Ola Akinboboye, is aware of the additional challenges that the holidays present to your heart health. If you feel as if you’re having a heart attack — no matter where you are or what you’re doing — please go straight to the emergency room.
How can you navigate holiday stress and protect your heart this season? The following are five festive tips.
Ho ho ho! Even if you hate holiday music, laughing and singing are two enjoyable activities that are free, natural, intuitive, and help you bust stress.
Studies have shown that vocal singing reduces the levels of the stress hormone cortisol while improving mood and affect. Singing conveys some of the same benefits of exercise, including the release of endorphins, the “feel-good” chemicals your body produces.
Both singing and laughing are aerobic activities, too, which means they bring more oxygen into your body, thereby increasing well-being and health. Too embarrassed to sing out loud in full voice? Humming to the rescue!
In fact, simply humming a single note (like an “om” chant) stimulates your vagus nerve. Humming lowers your heart rate, increases heart-rate variability (that’s a good thing), and decreases stress.
Laughing accomplishes the same things that humming and singing do. So if your bad singing makes you chuckle, you get a double whammy of stress relief.
Now that you’ve mastered the “om” hum, you can put it into practice by learning how to meditate. Meditation doesn’t require that you empty your mind (it’s impossible!). Simply focus your attention on a single point, such as your breath or a hum, or — if you keep your eyes open — on a stationary visual point, like a dot on the wall.
Both meditation and prayer take your focus inward and temporarily shut out the stimuli that’re stressing you out. Each state can also slow your breathing and heart rate, allowing you to take the deep breaths you need to calm your body down and give you a break from the madness.
Getting sleep may seem impossible during the holidays. In addition to your endless list of daily tasks, you now have mountains of more work to do, from buying and wrapping gifts to attending or throwing parties, to making travel arrangements.
However, enough good sleep makes all that extra work easier. If you have trouble winding down before bed, try out tips 1 and 2. Laughing, singing, meditating, or praying can all help calm your “monkey brain” and prepare your body for sleep.
When traveling, consider bringing a sleep mask and earplugs to ensure your room is dark and quiet. The National Sleep Foundation has some travel tips to help you catch your zzzs on the run.
If you want to get through holiday parties without gaining weight or falling off the wagon of your new good habits, plan now. You don’t have to wait until the new year to resolve to get or stay healthy. Figure out ahead of time how you can navigate holiday get-togethers:
If you plan and resolve ahead of time, you won’t be as tempted in the moment to make an unhealthy choice.
If you feel chest pain or tightness, or have palpitations or other symptoms that concern you, contact us. If you think you’re having a heart attack, head straight for the emergency room.
If you're concerned about the effects of holiday stress, we can conduct stress testing ahead of time to ensure you’re healthy. Then, if needed, we customize a treatment plan. Also, be sure to have enough medication to last you through the holidays, if necessary.
To schedule a stress test or refill your HBP prescriptions before the holidays, please contact our expert team at 718-208-4816 or use our online outreach form today.
