Answer My Health Question - It's All In The Heart

THE HUMAN HEART, MORE THAN A PUMP?

It's nothing more than a pump, or is it? The latest research suggests a direct link between your state of mind and the state of your heart. Answer my health question shows you how to keep it happy.

Your industrious organ that pumps your blood and it's cargo of oxygen through the body is also an age old symbol of emotion. The heart has always been thought of as the wellspring of the way we feel, be it aching or breaking or overflowing with love.

The latest research seems to confirm that there's a real link between our hearts and our minds. This means that stress at work or at home, along with your perceived ability to cope with life, can significantly increase your risk of developing a heart disease.

There also seems to be a strong link between depression and heart failure, the mortality rate in patients with depression being two and a half times higher than in patients without depression.

Depression often goes undiagnosed because of the overlapping symptoms of the two conditions which includes fatigue, loss of energy, poor appetite and sleep disturbance.

Depression is also often seen as a character weakness or personality flaw when it's really a clinical condition, affecting one out of five heart patients.

So is heart failure an outcome of depression or is depression a consequence of the life changing effects of heart failure? The answer in both cases is yes.

Depression is a risk factor for heart disease but heart disease is also a cause of depression. This can be a vicious circle that has to be addressed proactively. We need to know how to make out hearts happy.

And this all begins with proper exercise and nutrition. We can all do something about the food we eat and the activities we do. Physical activity boosts your circulation, reduces stress levels and stimulates the release of happy hormones or endorphins.

Even if you have a heart condition exercise can help you to feel better and get back on track. Remember your goal is to do whatever it takes to keep your heart happy.

So to answer my health question: get moving. Hurry to find out how to keep in shape and have a happy heart. Do it now, before it's too late. Your life may depend on your action.