4.De-stress your heart.

Unplug yourself from the news cycle and your email. It’s good for you and your ticker. It begins with your smartphone.  This is hard for me because it's a part of everything I do at the Wolf...BUT...Start turning it off for 15 minutes at a time and work up to an hour a day to reduce stress. Stress raises blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Consider swapping your smartphone for another handheld gadget -- your iPod. Put some relaxing music on your iPod, close your office door for 10 minutes, and listen and breathe.  (Guess I'll have to choose something besides Keith Urban...he makes me breathe alright!  :) 

And hopefully this doesn't apply to many of you by now, as the whole world seems to have moved on from smoking...but for those who still do....

5. Take a heart-felt approach to quitting smoking.

Smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease, but kicking this nasty habit can be much easier said than done. If you smoke, talk to your doctor about some of the new therapies that are available, it's not just gum and/or a patch anymore... 

Walnuts anyone?  :)

~Lisa