Heart and Mind Connection: Why Yoga Does Help the Heart

By Carrie Vittitoe There is no doubt that participating in a yoga session can make you feel relaxed. Slow-tempo music, stillness, and stretching can help a person regain a sense of inner calm. However, Shelli Carpenter, co-owner of Eternal Health Yoga, says consistency is the key to making yoga have long-term health benefits, such as reductions in blood pressure, improved flexibility, and increased lung capacity. “Having a consistent yoga practice is where the benefits come in,” she says. Consistent yoga practice is really part of an entire lifestyle. Doing an occasional class might make you [...]

By |2018-06-21T15:23:25-04:00February 4, 2018|Heart Health|

Wearing Your Heart on Your Sleeve

By Carrie Vittitoe Being a sensitive person has many benefits. Therapist Brittani Hoyer says sensitive people tend to be more empathetic. “They understand others’ feelings and typically have a lot more compassion for others,” she says. However, there are times when being sensitive displays itself in ways you might not like. Sensitive people might feel embarrassed if they cry at work or at school. They may worry that others think they are babies or can’t handle a job or responsibility. Brittani says it is important for sensitive people to think about what happens that makes [...]

By |2018-06-21T15:23:25-04:00February 3, 2018|Heart Health|

Dealing with Heart Break: Can it Heal?

By Carrie Vittitoe Loss is a part of life, but experiencing an emotional loss can make one’s heart feel like it is physically hurting. Licensed marriage and family therapist Brittani Hoyer says any kind of loss can lead to feelings of grief or heartbreak, including the loss of a loved one through divorce or death, the loss of a lifestyle as a result of an illness, or even the end of an addiction. Parents frequently go through little valleys of grief as their children leave one stage of life behind. An individual who experiences the [...]

By |2018-06-21T15:23:25-04:00February 3, 2018|Heart Health|

Wear the Red of Self-Improvement

By Carrie VittitoeRuth Devore, 52 of Jeffersonville, Indiana, who was awarded the American Heart Association’s Lifestyle Change Award in October 2016, says, “I don’t know where I’d be without my heart attack,” since it motivated her to completely change her life.Prior to her attack on October 20, 2015, she says she would avoid walking down the hall if she could. After her heart attack, though, she lost 60 pounds, stopped smoking and developed an exercise habit four days a week. Ruth says her doctor told her, “You are my model patient for taking it and [...]

By |2017-02-27T09:30:00-05:00February 27, 2017|Heart Health|

The (Red) Oft Proclaims the Woman

By Carrie Vittitoe Every woman who experiences a life-threatening cardiac event and shares her story serves as a witness for heart awareness. Joan Nelson, 65 of Buckner, Kentucky, was under a tremendous amount of stress in early 2014. Her husband, Ron, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2013, and Joan was his primary caretaker in addition to working full-time.She awoke on March 29, 2014, with a stiff neck, which wouldn’t normally be worrisome except that she had also had breathing difficulties for a few months. When she began feeling a tingly sensation down her [...]

By |2017-02-26T20:00:00-05:00February 26, 2017|Heart Health|

Wearing the Scarlett Letter H Everyday

By Carrie Vittitoe Once you’ve had a cardiac event, you are branded by the experience; you wear the “H” of heart disease in everything you do. Francine Bednar, 38 of Crestwood, Kentucky, was only 29 years old when she suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection a week after delivering her twins. That experience has influenced how she treats others and how she raises her children.For three to four months following her heart attack, Francine was very restricted in her activities. She was unable to lift more than 10 pounds and couldn’t twist her upper body [...]

By |2017-02-25T09:30:00-05:00February 25, 2017|Heart Health|
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