The S.T.E.P.S. To A Healthier Heart
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Stepping Into Better Heart Health
This is Dr. Jennifer H. Mieres, FACC, FAHA, MASNC. she’s an award-winning (we counted 9 major awards) professor of cardiology, and a leading advocate for women’s heart health. This latter she’s done via >70 scientific publications, >100 research presentations at national and international conferences, 3 books so far, and 4 documentaries, including the Emmy-nominated “A Woman’s Heart”.
What does she want us to know?
A lot of her work is a top-down approach, working to revolutionize the field of cardiology in its application, to result in far fewer deaths annually. Which is fascinating, but unless you’re well-placed in that industry, not something too actionable as an individual (if you are well-placed in that industry, do look her up, of course).
For the rest of us…
Dr. Mieres’ S.T.E.P.S. to good heart health
She wants us to do the following things:
1) Stock your kitchen with heart health in mind
This is tied to the third item in the list of course, but it’s a critical step not to be overlooked. It’s all very well to know “eat more fiber; eat less red meat” and so forth, but if you go to your kitchen and what’s there is not conducive to heart health, you’re just going to do the best with what’s available.
Instead, actually buy foods that are high in fiber, and preferably, foods that you like. Not a fan of beans? Don’t buy them. Love pasta? Go wholegrain. Like leafy greens in principle, but they don’t go with what you cook? Look up some recipes, and then buy them.
Love a beef steak? Well we won’t lie to you, that is not good for your heart, but make it a rare option—so to speak—and enjoy it mindfully (see also: mindful eating) once in a blue moon for a special occasion, rather than “I don’t know what to cook tonight, so sizzle sizzle I guess”.
Meal planning goes a long way for this one! And if meal-planning sounds like an overwhelming project to take on, then consider trying one of the many healthy-eating meal kit services that will deliver ingredients (and their recipes) to your door—opting for a plants-forward plan, and the rest should fall into place.
2) Take control of your activity
Choose to move! Rather than focusing on what you can’t do (let’s say, those 5am runs, or your regularly-scheduled, irregularly attended, gym sessions), focus on what you can do, and do it.
See also: No-Exercise Exercise!
3) Eat for a healthier heart
This means following through on what you did on the first step, and keeping it that way. Buying fresh fruit and veg is great, but you also have to actually eat it. Do not let the perishables perish!
For you too, dear reader, are perishable (and would presumably like to avoid perishing).
This item in the list may seem flippant, but actually this is about habit-forming, and without it, the whole plan will grind to a halt a few days after your first heart-health-focused shopping trip.
See also: Where Nutrition Meets Habits!
4) Partner with your doctor, family, and friends
Good relationships, both professional and personal, count for a lot. Draw up a plan with your doctor; don’t just guess at when to get this or that checked—or what to do about it if the numbers aren’t to your liking.
Partnership with your doctor goes both ways, incidentally. Read up, have opinions, discuss them! Doing so will ultimately result in better care than just going in blind and coming out with a recommendation you don’t understand and just trust (but soon forget, because you didn’t understand).
And as for family and friends, this is partly about social factors—we tend to influence, and be influenced by, those around us. It can be tricky to be on a health kick if your partner wants take-out every night, so some manner of getting everyone on the same page is important, be it by compromise or, in an ideal world, gradually trending towards better health. But any such changes must come from a place of genuine understanding and volition, otherwise at best they won’t stick, and at worst they’ll actively create a pushback.
Same goes for exercise as for diet—exercising together is a good way to boost commitment, especially if it’s something fun (dance classes are a fine example that many couples enjoy, for example).
5) Sleep more, stress less, savor life
These things matter a lot! Many people focus on cutting down salt or saturated fat, and that can be good if otherwise consumed to excess, but for most people they’re not the most decisive factors:
Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt ← sleep features here!
Stress is also a huge one, and let’s put it this way: people more often have heart attacks during a moment of excessive emotional stress—not during a moment when they had a bit too much butter on their toast.
It’s not even just that acute stress is the trigger, it’s that chronic stress is a contributory factor that erodes the body’s ability to handle the acute stress.
Changing this may seem “easier said than done” because often the stressors are external (e.g. work pressure, financial worries, caring for a sick relative, relationship troubles, major life change, etc), but it is possible to find peace even in the chaos of life:
Want to know more from Dr. Mieres?
You might like this book of hers, which goes into each of the above items in much more depth than we have room to here:
Heart Smarter for Women: Six Weeks to a Healthier Heart – by Dr. Jennifer Mieres
Enjoy!
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‘Sleep tourism’ promises the trip of your dreams. Beyond the hype plus 5 tips for a holiday at home
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Imagine arriving at your hotel after a long flight and being greeted by your own personal sleep butler. They present you with a pillow menu and invite you to a sleep meditation session later that day.
You unpack in a room kitted with an AI-powered smart bed, blackout shades, blue light-blocking glasses and weighted blankets.
Holidays are traditionally for activities or sightseeing – eating Parisian pastry under the Eiffel tower, ice skating at New York City’s Rockefeller Centre, lying by the pool in Bali or sipping limoncello in Sicily. But “sleep tourism” offers vacations for the sole purpose of getting good sleep.
The emerging trend extends out of the global wellness tourism industry – reportedly worth more than US$800 billion globally (A$1.2 trillion) and expected to boom.
Luxurious sleep retreats and sleep suites at hotels are popping up all over the world for tourists to get some much-needed rest, relaxation and recovery. But do you really need to leave home for some shuteye?
RossHelen/Shutterstock Not getting enough
The rise of sleep tourism may be a sign of just how chronically sleep deprived we all are.
In Australia more than one-third of adults are not achieving the recommended 7–9 hours of sleep per night, and the estimated cost of this inadequate sleep is A$45 billion each year.
Inadequate sleep is linked to long-term health problems including poor mental health, heart disease, metabolic disease and deaths from any cause.
Can a fancy hotel give you a better sleep?
Many of the sleep services available in the sleep tourism industry aim to optimise the bedroom for sleep. This is a core component of sleep hygiene – a series of healthy sleep practices that facilitate good sleep including sleeping in a comfortable bedroom with a good mattress and pillow, sleeping in a quiet environment and relaxing before bed.
The more people follow sleep hygiene practices, the better their sleep quality and quantity.
When we are staying in a hotel we are also likely away from any stressors we encounter in everyday life (such as work pressure or caring responsibilities). And we’re away from potential nighttime disruptions to sleep we might experience at home (the construction work next door, restless pets, unsettled children). So regardless of the sleep features hotels offer, it is likely we will experience improved sleep when we are away.
Being away from home also means being away from domestic disruptions. Makistock/Shutterstock What the science says about catching up on sleep
In the short-term, we can catch up on sleep. This can happen, for example, after a short night of sleep when our brain accumulates “sleep pressure”. This term describes how strong the biological drive for sleep is. More sleep pressure makes it easier to sleep the next night and to sleep for longer.
But while a longer sleep the next night can relieve the sleep pressure, it does not reverse the effects of the short sleep on our brain and body. Every night’s sleep is important for our body to recover and for our brain to process the events of that day. Spending a holiday “catching up” on sleep could help you feel more rested, but it is not a substitute for prioritising regular healthy sleep at home.
All good things, including holidays, must come to an end. Unfortunately the perks of sleep tourism may end too.
Our bodies do not like variability in the time of day that we sleep. The most common example of this is called “social jet lag”, where weekday sleep (getting up early to get to work or school) is vastly different to weekend sleep (late nights and sleep ins). This can result in a sleepy, grouchy start to the week on Monday. Sleep tourism may be similar, if you do not come back home with the intention to prioritise sleep.
So we should be mindful that as well as sleeping well on holiday, it is important to optimise conditions at home to get consistent, adequate sleep every night.
Good sleep hygiene doesn’t require a passport. Maridav/Shutterstock 5 tips for having a sleep holiday at home
An AI-powered mattress and a sleep butler at home might be the dream. But these features are not the only way we can optimise our sleep environment and give ourselves the best chance to get a good night’s sleep. Here are five ideas to start the night right:
1. avoid bright artificial light in the evening (such as bright overhead lights, phones, laptops)
2. make your bed as comfortable as possible with fresh pillows and a supportive mattress
3. use black-out window coverings and maintain a cool room temperature for the ideal sleeping environment
4. establish an evening wind-down routine, such as a warm shower and reading a book before bed or even a “sleepy girl mocktail”
5. use consistency as the key to a good sleep routine. Aim for a similar bedtime and wake time – even on weekends.
Charlotte Gupta, Senior postdoctoral research fellow, Appleton Institute, HealthWise research group, CQUniversity Australia and Dean J. Miller, Adjunct Research Fellow, Appleton Institute of Behavioural Science, CQUniversity Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Figs vs Plums – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing figs to plums, we picked the figs.
Why?
In terms of macros, figs have more protein, carbs, and fiber; the glycemic index is about equal so we’ll call this category either a tie, or a nominal win for figs (as the “more food per food” option).
In the category of vitamins, figs have more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and choline, while plums have more of vitamins A, C, E, and K. We may subjectively prefer one set of vitamins or the other (depending on the rest of our diet, for example), but by the numbers, this is a 7:4 victory for figs.
When it comes to minerals, figs have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while plums are not higher in any minerals. An easy win for figs here.
Of course, enjoy either or both, but if you’re going to pick one for nutritional density, we say it’s figs, as illustrated scientifically below:
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?
Take care!
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Next-Level Headache Hacks
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A Muscle With A Lot Of Therapeutic Value
First, a quick anatomy primer, so that the rest makes sense. We’re going to be talking about your sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle today.
To find it, there are two easy ways:
- look in a mirror, turn your head to one side and it’ll stick out on the opposite side of your neck
- look at this diagram
(we’re going to talk about it in the singular, but you have one on each side)
This muscle is interesting for very many reasons, but what we’re going to focus on today is that massaging/stretching it (correctly!) can benefit several things that are right next to it and/or behind it, namely:
- The tenth cranial nerve
- The eleventh cranial nerve
- The carotid artery
Why do we care about these?
Well, we would die quickly without the first and last of those. However, more practically, massaging each has benefits:
The tenth cranial nerve
This one is also known by its superhero alter-ego name:
The Vagus Nerve (And How You Can Make Use Of It)
The eleventh cranial nerve
This one’s not nearly so critical to life, but it does facilitate most of the motor functions in that general part of the body—including some mechanics of speech production, and maintaining posture of the shoulders/neck/head (which in turn strongly affects presence/absence of certain kinds of headaches).
The carotid artery
We suspect you know what this one does already; it supplies the brain (and the rest of your head, for that matter) with oxygenated blood.
What is useful to know today, is that it can be massaged, via the SCM, in a way that brings about a gentler version of this “one weird trick” to cure a lot of kinds of headaches:
Curing Headaches At Home With Actual Science
How (And Why) To Massage Your SCM
…to relieve many kinds of headache, migraine, eye-ache, and tension or pain the jaw. It’s not a magical cure all so this comes with no promises, but it can and will help with a lot of things.
In few words: turn your ahead away from the side where it hurts (if both, just pick one and then repeat for the other side), and slightly downwards. When your SCM sticks out a bit on the other side, gently pinch and rub it, working from the bottom to the top.
If you prefer videos, here is a demonstration:
How (And Why) To Stretch Your SCM
The above already includes a little stretch, but you can stretch it in a way that specifically stimulates your vagus nerve (this is good for many things).
In few words: stand (or sit) up straight, and interlace your fingers together. Put your hands on the back of your neck, thumbs-downwards, and (keeping your face forward) look to one side with your eyes only, and hold that until you feel the urge to yawn (it’ll probably take between about 3 seconds and 30 seconds). Then repeat on the other side.
If you prefer videos, this one is a very slight variation of what we just described but works the same way:
Take care!
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Self-Compassion In A Relationship (Positives & Pitfalls)
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Practise Self-Compassion In Your Relationship (But Watch Out!)
Let’s make clear up-front: this is not about “…but not too much”.
With that in mind…
Now let’s set the scene: you, a happily-partnered person, have inadvertently erred and upset your partner. They may or may not have already forgiven you, but you are still angry at yourself.
Likely next steps include all or any of:
- continuing to apologise and try to explain
- self-deprecatory diatribes
- self-flagellation, probably not literally but in the sense of “I don’t deserve…” and acting on that feeling
- self-removal, because you don’t want to further inflict your bad self on your partner
As you might guess, these are quite varied in their degree of healthiness:
- apologising is good, as even is explaining, but once it’s done, it’s done; let it go
- self-deprecation is pretty much never useful, let alone healthy
- self-flagellation likewise; it is not only inherently self-destructive, but will likely create an additional problem for your partner too
- self-removal can be good or bad depending on the manner of that removal: there’s a difference between just going cold and distant on your partner, and saying “I’m sorry; this is my fault not yours, I don’t want to take it out on you, so please give me half an hour by myself to regain my composure, and I will come back with love then if that’s ok with you”
About that last: mentioning the specific timeframe e.g. “half an hour” is critical, by the way—don’t leave your partner hanging! And then do also follow through on that; come back with love after the half-hour elapses. We suggest mindfulness meditation in the interim (here’s our guide to how), if you’re not sure what to do to get you there.
To Err Is Human; To Forgive, Healthy (Here’s How To Do It) ← this goes for when the forgiveness in question is for yourself, too—and we do write about that there (and how)!
This is important, by the way; not forgiving yourself can cause more serious issues down the line:
If, by the way, you’re hand-wringing over “but was my apology good enough really, or should I…” then here is how to do it. Basically, do this, and then draw a line under it and consider it done:
The Apology Checklist ← you’ll want to keep a copy of this, perhaps in the notes app on your phone, or a screenshot if you prefer
(the checklist is at the bottom of that page)
The catch
It’s you, you’re the catch 👈👈😎
Ok, that being said, there is actually a catch in the less cheery sense of the word, and it is:
“It is important to be compassionate about one’s occasional failings in a relationship” does not mean “It is healthy to be neglectful of one’s partner’s emotional needs; that’s self-care, looking after #1; let them take care of themself too”
…because that’s simply not being a couple at all.
Think about it this way: the famous airline advice,
“Put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs”
…does not mean “Put on your own oxygen mask and then watch those kids suffocate; it’s everyone for themself”
So, the same goes in relationships too. And, as ever, we have science for this. There was a recent (2024) study, involving hundreds of heterosexual couples aged 18–73, which looked at two things, each measured with a scaled questionnaire:
- Subjective levels of self-compassion
- Subjective levels of relationship satisfaction
For example, questions included asking participants to rate, from 1–5 depending on how much they felt the statements described them, e.g:
In my relationship with my partner, I:
- treat myself kindly when I experience sorrow and suffering.
- accept my faults and weaknesses.
- try to see my mistakes as part of human nature.
- see difficulties as part of every relationship that everyone goes through once.
- try to get a balanced view of the situation when something unpleasant happens.
- try to keep my feelings in balance when something upsets me.
Note: that’s not multiple choice! It’s asking participants to rate each response as applicable or not to them, on a scale of 1–5.
And…
❝Women’s self-compassion was also positively linked with men’s total relationship satisfaction. Thus, men seem to experience overall satisfaction with the relationship when their female partner is self-kind and self-caring in difficult situations.
Unexpectedly, however, we found that men’s relationship-specific self-compassion was negatively associated with women’s fulfillment.
Baker and McNulty (2011) reported that, only for men, a Self-Compassion x Conscientiousness interaction explained whether the positive effects of self-compassion on the relationship emerged, but such an interaction was not found for women.
Highly self-compassionate men who were low in conscientiousness were less motivated than others to remedy interpersonal mistakes in their romantic relationships, and this tendency was in turn related to lower relationship satisfaction❞
~ Dr. Astrid Schütz et al. (2024)
And if you’d like to read the cited older paper from 2011, here it is:
Read in full: Self-compassion and relationship maintenance: the moderating roles of conscientiousness and gender
The take-away here is not: “men should not practice self-compassion”
(rather, they absolutely should)
The take-away is: we must each take responsibility for managing our own mood as best we are able; practice self-forgiveness where applicable and forgive our partner where applicable (and communicate that!)…. And then go consciously back to the mutual care on which the relationship is hopefully founded.
Which doesn’t just mean love-bombing, by the way, it also means listening:
The Problem With Active Listening (And How To Do Better)
To close… We say this often, but we mean it every time: take care!
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Younger For Life – by Dr. Anthony Youn
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We’ve reviewed anti-aging books before, so what makes this one different? Mostly, it’s the very practical focus.
Which is not to say there’s not also good science in here; there is. But the focus is on what everything means for the reader, not what happened with a certain cohort of lab mice. Instead, he looks at the causes of aging, the process of aging, and what interventions to implement to address those, and reverse many of them.
Some parts are more general lifestyle interventions that 10almonds readers will know well already, but other parts are very specific advices, protocols, and regimes; in particular his skincare section is well worth reading. As for nutrition, there’s even a respectable recipes section, so this book does have it all!
The final section of the book is dedicated to plastic surgeries (the author is a plastic surgeon who believes that most people should not need those, and would do well to stick to the advices in the rest of the book). We suspect this last part of the book will be of least interest to 10almonds readers.
Bottom line: if you’re of the view that getting older should come with as little as possible physical deterioration along the way, then this book can help a lot with that.
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Fermenting Everything – by Andy Hamilton
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This is not justanother pickling book! This is, instead, what it says on the front cover, “fermenting everything”.
Ok, maybe not literally everything, but every kind of thing that can reasonably be fermented, and it’s probably a lot more things than you might think.
From habanero chutney to lacto-lemonade, aioli to kombucha, Ukrainian fermented tomatoes to kvass. We could go on, but we’d soon run out of space. You get the idea. If it’s a fermented product (food, drink, condiment) and you’ve heard of it, there’s probably a recipe in here.
All in all, this is a great way to get in your gut-healthy daily dose of fermented products!
He does also talk safety, and troubleshooting too. And so long as you have a collection of big jars and a fairly normally-furnished kitchen, you shouldn’t need any more special equipment than that, unless you decide to you your fermentation skills for making beer (which does need some extra equipment, and he offers advice on that—our advice as a health science publication is “don’t drink beer”, though).
Bottom line: with this in hand, you can create a lot of amazing foods/drinks/condiments that are not only delicious, but also great for gut health.
Click here to check out Fermenting Everything, and widen your culinary horizons!
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