The Importance of Stress Reduction For Optimal Heart Health And Overall Well-Being

Our hearts, brains, and guts are key control centers for processing and managing emotions and for keeping us alive, well, and fully functioning as we navigate through life. And the effects of stress on each of these centers, and, therefore, our overall well-being is becoming clearer with more research each day.

While normal stress (engaging in new and novel activities and interactions, learning and growing, participating in healthy physical activities, etc) is necessary for helping us to grow and develop resilience and happiness in life, overwhelming, chronic, and toxic (destructive to our mental health) stress has a definite negative impact on our health and overall well-being (physiologically in and in all possible ways).

Whether it is extreme sadness or extreme excitement over long periods of time, our bodies and minds can be devastated by the impact of too much stimuli without proper rest and recovery in between.

Cultivating a state of equanimity within ourselves through Yoga and Meditation, getting the right amount of sleep each day, participating in the best types of physical activity for us, effectively processing our emotions, and getting the proper nutrition that is required to keep our bodies and minds effectively functioning, etc, as well as engaging in other stress-reducing/fun activities that we are called to, is key to developing and maintaining great physical and mental health. These factors are required for creating the right conditions for higher quality living and greater overall well-being.

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The following is a link to an article that discusses the impact of brain stress on the heart.

I hope that you find it useful as you contemplate the different ways that you can reduce the amount of stress in your life in order to promote and advocate for your greater health and well-being: