The Stress Factor

Sometimes it takes something really scary and/or sad to give us a wake up call. While a lot of my posts are about physical activity and staying fit, I also believe that taking care of ourselves in other ways is very important too. Good nutrition, plenty of sleep....and lowering our stress levels are all vitally important to good health.

This point has been driven home with me a couple times so I hope that I am really learning the lesson this time. Four years ago, my husband/best friend, gave me the scare of a lifetime. The evening before my first marathon, he had a heart attack. While I didn't run the physical 26.2 miles, the journey that followed was not an easy one. Fortunately for both of us, they found his blockage and were able to open it with a stint. As he was being released from the hospital, the doctor gave him instructions for taking care of himself. He couldn't seem to emphasize enough the bad things that stress can do to our bodies. He pointed out four factors that affect heart health....genetics, diet, exercise, habits. While we cannot control our genetics, we CAN control what we put in our bodies, how much we move and whether or not we smoke, allow ourselves to get stressed, etc.

This past week we got the news that a co-worker/friend of my husband had a stroke and passed away at 52 years of age. One likely culprit....stress. He was under a large amount of stress in his job and that most likely was a factor.

My husband has been reminding me (alot this week with the elections going on!) that there really are few things in life worth getting worked up and stressed out about. Do what you can to change the things you can and don't waste energy on things out of your control. I know it is much easier said than done, but if I am going to eat my veggies and run, why not take it to the next level and control ALL the factors that I can? After all, without my health, I have nothing.