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From the category archives:
Lifestyle
(Keep in mind that meditation reduces the risk of a heart attack by at least 50%) from www.MeditationOasis.com Walking Meditation How to meditate while walking Walking meditation can be just as profound as sitting meditation, and has the advantage of bringing the meditative experience into our activity. There are a number of different walking meditations. [...]
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Note the emphasis on: “social support, relaxation therapy, yoga, meditation, controlled slow breathing, and biofeedback” Acute Emotional Stress and Cardiac Arrhythmias Roy C. Ziegelstein, MD JAMA. 2007;298(3):324-329. doi:10.1001/jama.298.3.324. Episodes of acute emotional stress can have significant adverse effects on the heart. Acute emotional stress can produce left ventricular contractile dysfunction, myocardial ischemia, or disturbances of [...]
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How To Do A Heart Chakra Meditation 4th Chakra Clearing Meditation How to Open Your Heart Chakra Karunesh: Heart Chakra Meditation Heart Chakra Meditation: Tibetan Sound How to Open Your Heart Chakra The Singing Bowl Meditation
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Heart Chakra Meditation | Guided Meditation Practice The following is a dictation of the practice of a heart chakra meditation taught by Swami Sivajnanananda. This practice is designed to help open the heart chakra, stimulated emotional release and sensitizing the practitioner to the traits of love, compassion, and joy. This practice can be used by [...]
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from www.care2.com Meditate on the Heart The purpose of this exercise is to give you the experience of making your heart pure enough to witness spirit. Pure here doesn’t mean good and virtuous; it means free from impurity, with no value judgment intended. In the words of William Blake, we are cleansing the doors of [...]
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from www.freemeditations.com Heart Centered Meditation Begin by finding a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed. Take the phone off the hook. Turn off your mobile phone, radio, and television, as well as any unnecessary electrical equipment in the area immediately surrounding where you will be meditating. Sit or lay down in a comfortable [...]
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(Daily meditation reduces heart attack risk by about 50%..) from yogabasics.com This heart chakra meditation is a simple technique to release sadness and fear and to bring compassion and love into your life. Sit in a comfortable position, either cross-legged on the floor or in a chair. Sit up tall with the spine straight, the [...]
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Healing and the Heart Chakra When most people start studying the mind-body-spirit connection, they realize that the heart helps healing. Unconditional compassion, pure love: intuitively, we know that these vibrations can transform dis-ease into wholeness and bliss. We also sense that a “broken heart” can contribute to illness, and that extreme anger can cause a [...]
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[The critical component is "adherence" -- most of us know what to do be be healthy, we just don't do it. It is the psychology of adherence that deserves much study and much more prominence] from the article: All 4 low-risk lifestyle factors were significantly and independently associated with a lower risk of SCD Adherence [...]
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[Emotional stress is often under-rated as major factor in heart disease.] from the article: When divided into three groups based on levels of the stress hormone, the third of study participants with the highest cortisol levels had a fivefold increased risk of dying from cardiovascular causes as the third with the lowest levels. High Cortisol [...]
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[Interesting study on how our expectations (eating out makes you happier) versus reality, that people feel better after eating at home.] from the article: The study looked at how food choices influence mood. 160 women reported what they ate for 10 days. They were contacted every two hours to report what they had recently eaten, [...]
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[Continuing with the theme of the limits and utilization of will power...] from the article: This helps explain why, after a long day at the office, we’re more likely to indulge in a pint of ice cream, or eat one too many slices of leftover pizza. (In fact, one study by researchers at the University [...]
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[Most of us know that if we lost weight our hearts would be healthier -- yet the resolution to lose weight rarely works. Strategy based on how the brain works is much more effective than just trying to use will power.] from the article: Below are five strategies to restore your willpower. Sure, they may [...]
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[We're 90% bacteria and 10% human to start with - may as well have enlist the pros...] from the article: The people in the probiotic group showed a muted response in brain areas involved in processing and sensation, compared with the other two groups. On the flip side, people who didn’t eat any yogurt had [...]
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[In the 60's, when meditation become more mainstream. the phrase I would often here is: "If you are too busy to meditate, you are too busy." -- And today the phrase I came across was, "It is important to meditate twenty minutes a day.... If you are too busy to meditate, meditate for an hour [...]
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[In my opinion, cardiologist Richard Fogoros provides the best medical information on heart disease on the Web] from the article: At the end of the day, we can state four general rules that all parties – both low fat and low carb – would agree to: 1) Avoid the simple carbohydrates that cause rapid rises [...]
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[There are many different styles and practices of meditation, and many of them have health benefits. Reduction of inflammation is particularly important for heart health...] Eastern and Western medicine unite for mind/body health January 4, 2010 Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, PhD, senior lecturer in the Department of Religion at Emory, and Charles Raison, MD, in [...]
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[As I have mentioned before, Carolyn Thomas's www.myheartsisters.org is the best heart blog on the Web -- she frequently deals with the the post-heart attack psychological world. Here is an excellent first person narrative of how the world changes after a heart attack.] from the article It means learning how to take naps, or just [...]
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["Heart Rate Variability, or HRV, is under-appreciated measure of heart health...] Greater Heart Rate Variability The term called “heart rate variability” means that minute-by-minute (or even second-by-second) your heart rate fluctuates depending on internal and external stimulus. If your resting heart rate is 60 beats per minute, it makes sense that your heart would beat [...]
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Scientists Finding Out What Losing Sleep Does to a Body Rob Stein Washington Post Staff Writer October 9, 2005> With a good night’s rest increasingly losing out to the Internet, e-mail, late-night cable and other distractions of modern life, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that too little or erratic sleep may be taking [...]
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Alcohol Interferes With the Restorative Functions of Sleep ScienceDaily Aug. 16, 2011 Large amounts of alcohol are known to shorten sleep latency, increase slow-wave sleep, and suppress rapid eye movement (REM) during the first half of sleep. During the second half of sleep, REM increases and sleep becomes shallower. A study of the acute effects [...]
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Midday Napping Slows Heart Disease Carole Bullock February 14, 2007 — What could be some of the most welcome heart-healthy advice in a long time comes from Greek researchers who say daytime napping — taking a siesta — may add years to your life. Appearing in the February 12 issue of the Archives of Internal [...]
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Searching for preventive measures of cardiovascular events in aged Japanese taxi drivers–the daily rhythm of cardiovascular risk factors during a night duty day. J Hum Ergol (Tokyo). 2001 Dec;30(1-2):321-6. Hattori M, Azami Y. Johoku Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan. Abstract Previous studies have shown that Japanese taxi drivers are exposed to more risk factors and have a [...]
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Inflammation May Be Link Between Extreme Sleep Durations And Poor Health ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2009) — A new study in the journal Sleep shows that sleep duration is associated with changes in the levels of specific cytokines that are important in regulating inflammation. The results suggest that inflammation may be the pathway linking extreme sleep [...]
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Journal of the American Medical Association 2008;300(24):2859-2866. Short Sleep Duration and Incident Coronary Artery Calcification From the Abstract Context Coronary artery calcification is a subclinical predictor of coronary heart disease. Recent studies have found that sleep duration is correlated with established risk factors for calcification including glucose regulation, blood pressure, sex, age, education, and body [...]
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Has your cardiologist talked to you about breathing? Associated Press July 31, 2006 Breathe deep to lower blood pressure, doc says Experiment suggests slow breathing helps break down the salt we eat WASHINGTON — Take a slow deep breath, then exhale just as slowly. Can you take fewer than 10 breaths a minute? Research suggests [...]
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One wonders why there is not more emphasis in cardiac rehab and medicine in general in integrating Yoga or similar disciplines into health treatment… Here in Fairbanks the cardiac rehab program has nothing about Yoga or mind-body relationships…. This article was published over five years ago…. Medical practice tends to be about 15 years behind [...]
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From the article: Patients who begin an exercise program one week after their heart attack were found to have the best heart performance. For those who waited to begin their exercise rehabilitation program, the results showed that “for every week that a patient delayed his or her exercise treatment, he or she would have to [...]
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Yoga Reduces Atrial Fibrillation Risk Considerably April 3, 2011 Medical News Today People who regularly practice yoga have a significantly lower risk of having episodes of atrial fibrillation – abnormal heart rhythm (irregular heartbeat) caused by unusual generation of electrical signals in the heart. Atrial fibrillation is a major cause of stroke among elderly individuals. [...]
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Although it seems like a reasonable question, it is difficult to find precise information on the correlation between weight loss and heart attack risk reduction. From the previous post, for each point reduction in LDL, there is risk reduction of approximately .5%. From the article below, it appears that for about 1% of weight loss, [...]
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Although keeping a food journal is most likely an effective strategy to lose weight, the problem with the research cited below is that there is no control or differentiation over who keeps a food diary and who doesn’t. Of course anyone who has the focus and discipline to keep a food diary is going to [...]
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Several years ago, I was listening to a tape about Naikan Therapy; one exercise it suggested was spending the day being grateful for everything that was part of one’s day — “thank you toothbrush, thank you tires, thank you computer, thank you air, etc… It was a peak experience, with even an all too brief [...]
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Years ago, California had a 1-800 hotline you could call if you were trying to quit smoking. They asked the callers if they could check back on them to see what strategies of quitting smoking worked. It turned out that a large variety of strategies worked, except for the strategy of using willpower. The problem [...]
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For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. John [...]
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The theme of the last posts has been while we all know what we should do, it is a whole other matter to actually consistent do it. Frankly, I get tired of lists of things to do to diet right, exercise, sleep, etc. Most are so obvious that they put the mind to sleep. Appealing [...]
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A young man who just graduated from Agricultural College is walking by a farm in Iowa and watches an old farmer for a while. Finally, he says to the farmer, You know sir, with these new methods I just learned in school, I can show you how to farm twice as well as you are [...]
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Can you believe it? Walking is better for you than not walking?… Perhaps science needs to convince us to use common sense…. Note that the lowest quartile in this group reported walking eight blocks a week or less…. That’s possible? (I presume these were able-bodied participants who could walk…) The basic issue is often not [...]
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