12 Ways to Fight Stress and Help Your Heart

Can stress hurt your heart?

By Amanda Gardner
The evidence is piling up that the answer is—yes, stress is bad for your ticker.

“There are studies to show that stress is comparable to other risk factors that we traditionally think of as major, like hypertension, poor diet, and lack of exercise,” says Kathi Heffner, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Rochester Center for Mind-Body Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

Here are 12 steps you can take to fight stress and protect your heart.  More....:  Health.com

7 Bad Habits that Steal Your Sleep

Working on your laptop in bed is a recipe for a bad night's sleep.

One bad night's sleep is nothing to worry about -- half of all adults suffer occasional bouts of sleeplessness. But chronic insomnia can do more than more than just make you tired during the day. Several recent studies have linked poor slumber with weight gain, high blood pressure, and a higher risk of a heart attack.


Stress, illness, menopause, and even some medications can trigger insomnia. These 7 everyday habits can steal your slumber, too. The good news: A small change in routine may be all you need to sleep better.
Take this test to find out what's getting in the way of your sleep.


You have caffeine after lunch. Caffeine lingers in your system for up to 12 hours, so that after-lunch coffee can leave you wide-eyed at bedtime. More....Shine from Yahoo

The Science

The latest cutting-edge research proves your mind can heal your body. Here's how:
Your body dials down stress. Dr. Benson's research has found that mind/body practices—meditation, yoga, tai chi, deep breathing, visualization—all elicit the relaxation response, quelling the release of stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. Your heart slows, blood pressure falls and digestion eases.  Sourced By: Yahoo Health

How To Make Your Marriage Stronger.

Research has long shown that married people are generally healthier and live longer than unmarried people. Married people are less likely to get cancer and heart attacks, and have even been shown to be at lower risk for dementia. One study found married people to be much less likely to suffer from headaches, back pain, and psychological distress. They are also more active and less likely to smoke.
But while marriage is distinctively connected to health and wellbeing on paper, recent research has shown that this doesn’t extend to troubled couples. In fact, unhealthy relationships can have negative effects that far outweigh those faced by unmarried people. A 2005 study published in “The Archives of General Psychiatry” found that couples who experienced high levels of hostility were more susceptible to illness than happier couples. It has also been shown that unhappily married couples are more likely to experience chronic illness, heart attacks and high cholesterol.

While it’s normal to experience some tension and emotional distress within a marriage, you don’t want to let the scale tip too far the wrong way, or you’re at risk for more than just stress – psychologically as well as physically. Here are seven ways to strengthen your marriage:  More...Shine at Yahoo

How Extreme Is Your Stress Level? Take This Quiz to Find Out

When you think of stress, you probably think of major life-disrupting events: job loss, identity theft, financial ruin, serious illness. But the small stuff can add up to big stress effects when there are enough of them. In fact, studies suggest that, taken together, the accumulated annoyances of everyday life may be the biggest stressor you face.  More... http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/how-extreme-is-your-stress-level-take-this-quiz-to-find-out-2519989/

5 WAYS TO MANAGE STRESS

Being totally well is also being healthy in every aspect of our life. We may have a delicious meal every day, an exercise activity to perform and an active social life. But we must not forget that there are still many things that could make us unhealthy. One of the problems usually encountered by people is stress. Stress could also be detrimental to one’s health. Once a person feels stressed, the physical and emotional aspects of life is totally affected, if not manage properly. This is why; more seminars and workshops are now open to teach people how to properly manage stress.
     A good burst of stress can be good for you, it jolts your body into a repair mode and can even help you relieve stress, but when your stress is chronic and unmanageable, it could make you unhealthy and may affect many aspects of your life. More...Wellness.com

The Top 5 Killers of Men

It was a sunny September day in the Pacific Northwest, and Jeff Hale had just closed a $1.5 million deal. To celebrate, he was taking the afternoon off, relaxing on his patio lounge, and playing ball with his dog. That's when he began feeling compression high in his chest, some pain in his left shoulder, and an unsettling sense of dread. At 44, he was in relatively good shape, although 15 pounds overweight and under a lot of stress from work. At first, he thought it was an asthma attack and took a hit off his inhaler. But when that didn't help, he remembered an article he’d read in Men's Health.  More...Yahoo Health