Listen To Your Heart
When was the last time you paused to feel or perhaps even hear the rhythmic beat in your chest? The beat that has carried you since roughly six weeks post gestation; beginning as a specialized bundle of cells sending that signal and impulse. It has been with you through every despair, uncertainty, mundane, joyous, wonderful, blissful moment. Through exhaustion and exuberance, chaos and peace, and it continues to beat right here, right now, in this moment. Who is in your heart? What is in your heart? Are there any specific places or moments that surface? … This technique and this process of connecting to your heart is something that even high performance athletes do. It’s called Quick Coherence and it invites greater inner clarity and balance. It brings the heart and brain back in sync calming the nervous system.
Your heart is a phenomenal muscle and about the same size as your fist. The right side of your heart receives oxygen-poor blood from your veins and pumps it to your lungs, where the blood picks up oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide. The left side of your heart receives oxygen-rich blood from your lungs and pumps it through your arteries to the rest of your body. The heart beats approximately 100,000 times a day and pumps just over 7,500 litres of blood through an average adult body daily. That’s a heavy workload! A beating heart pumps blood through the circulatory system, a complex web of vessels that carries blood through the body. Arteries, capillaries and veins are three types of blood vessels that provide almost 97,000 kilometers of tubing for blood to flow through. A bounteous, red heart is the universal symbol of life and love. Without it, we’d have neither. The heart is a complex organ and is susceptible to damage and injury. That’s why it’s important to protect it and keep it as healthy and strong as possible. Thankfully, there are steps we can take to support heart health such as eating a healthy diet, managing our stress, maintaining an exercise or movement practice, and not smoking.
There are several key supplements that have been studied for their role in supporting heart health.
- Ubiquinol: Ubiquinol is a an active form of CoQ10 and a powerful antioxidant that can help protect your heart and other organs from free radical damage. Supplementing with ubiquinol can contribute to a renewed sense of energy, as ubiquinol plays a role in the production of Adenosene Triphosphate (ATP), a transporter responsible for generating 90 to 95 percent of your body’s energy. Remember how many times your heart beats each day? That takes a lot of energy! CanPrev Ubiquinol 100 with MCT Oil CanPrev Healthy Heart
- Magnesium and Taurine: Taurine is a naturally occurring sulfur-containing amino acid that may have beneficial cardiovascular effects, including blood pressure regulation, improved cardiac fitness, and enhanced vascular health. Both magnesium and taurine appear to support the balance of calcium levels in the heart, influencing contractility and protecting the heart against potential difficulties caused by an overload of heart calcium levels. CanPrev Magnesium + Taurine, B6, & Zinc
- Red Yeast Rice: Red yeast rice is derived from rice fermented with a specific type of yeast called Monascus purpureus. It contains natural compounds called monacolins that help lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. It also inhibits the production of HMG-CoA, a critical molecule that leads to the production of cholesterol. CanPrev Red Yeast Rice Complex
- Krill Oil: Krill Oil is a blend of omega-3 fatty acids, phospholipids, and astaxanthin that provides an alternative to fish oil. The EPA and DHA in krill oil is primarily bound to phospholipids, which may improve intestinal transport and bioavailability. Krill contains astaxanthin, which is the carotenoid antioxidant responsible for its red pigmentation. Research suggests krill promotes cardiovascular health and healthy lipid metabolism. CanPrev Krill Oil
- Beets: Beets are a good source of nitrates, which can help reduce blood pressure and increase exercise endurance. Beets are also full of anthocyanins, which are anti-inflammatory and may help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Salus Organic Red Beet Crystals
The content in this post is for information purposes only and is not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment of conditions that your health care practitioner should assess. The products discussed may not be suitable for you. Always read and follow the label.
For additional heart health recommendations, you are always welcome to visit us in-store at 317 Brock Street S Whitby, ON L1N 4K3.
References:
CanPrev, 2024. CanPrev Natural Health Products. <https://canprev.ca/>
Murray, M. 2015. “Heart Health in a Heartbeat”. <https://www.alive.com/health/heart-health-in-a-heartbeat/>
Image: McMaster University, 2021. “Employee Well-Being: Whole Heart Health”. <https://hr.mcmaster.ca/employee-well-being-whole-heart-health/>