When it comes to big holiday meals, it may seem impossible to enjoy yourself without your waistline taking a hit. But it’s easier than you think to have a healthy holiday season! Here are five tips to staying healthy in the holidays:

1. Eat close to regular meal times

Don’t skip meals to save up for a feast. When you “save room” for holiday meals, you can end up overeating due to being extremely hungry. Have a small snack if a meal is going to be later than usual.

2. Offer to bring a healthy dish with you

You may not be able to control what will be served, but if you bring something along that you know will be a healthy choice for you, everyone will benefit!

3. Outsmart the buffet

Get a small plate of all your favorite foods and then move away from the table. For people who are watching their sugar and carbohydrate intake, have a small piece of your favorite dessert that only comes around once a year, satisfy your craving and be done.

4. Keep it moving!

Take a walk after your holiday meal with friends or family, whether it be around the neighborhood or downtown after a holiday celebration with co-workers.

5. Get plenty of sleep

Between holiday parties every weekend and preparing snacks for kids’ school parties, it’s easy to cut back on sleep during the holidays. According to the CDC, when you are sleep deprived, you tend to eat more. For people with diabetes, sleep deprivation can also make it harder to control blood sugar levels. Try to get at least seven or eight hours of sleep per night to help fight off mindless eating habits.

Most importantly, don’t lose sight of what the holiday season is all about – celebrating and spending time with those you love. If you do happen to “fall off the bandwagon,” know that tomorrow is a new day and jump back on! When your focus is on having fun, it’s less about the food, and more about taking time to slow down, recount your blessings from the year, and look forward to what next year has to offer.

Enjoyed our five tips to staying healthy in the holidays? Be sure to read more of our heart health tips so you can stay educated on how to live a heart healthy lifestyle.

Sleep is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle – without restful sleep, our bodies are unable to fully recover from the daily grind. It’s essential to renew our bodies and minds as we move about our fast-paced lives. But perhaps you’ve struggled to get a full night’s rest and have been searching for how to improve sleep, so Arkansas Heart Hospital’s Senior Clinical Director of Ancillary Services, Jason Henry, has created a simple list of tips you can start following immediately.

The first thing to know is not everyone requires the same amount of sleep to feel rested and alert. Some feel recharged after just five or six hours, while others need eight to 10. The most important step when it comes to sleeping well is to create a routine. Set your internal clock by going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day. It’s also important to set aside time away from your electronics before going to bed. Try to stop looking at phones, tablets, computers and television at least half an hour before going to bed.

Here are 6 tips for how to improve sleep:

• Stick to a sleep schedule. Humans are creatures of habit. Regulate your body’s internal clock by establishing a routine sleep schedule that allows for at least seven hours of sleep every night.
• Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual. Meditation, breathing exercises, aromatherapy, light stretching or a hot bath can help provide “closure” to stresses or worries from the day.
• Be mindful of what you eat or drink. Don’t go to bed hungry or overly full. Avoid heavy meals within two hours before bedtime and nicotine, caffeine and alcohol for up to five hours. Although alcohol may make you feel sleepy, it can disrupt the quality of your sleep.
• Create a restful environment. Make your bedroom a quiet, dark, cool and comfortable space. Turn off and tune out from light emitting electronics and TV prior to going to bed.
• Exercise daily. Regular exercise can help promote better sleep, but avoid vigorous exercise close to bedtime.
• Avoid daytime naps. If you do choose to nap, limit yourself to 15-20 minutes and avoid napping late in the day.

Some who are unable to get a good night’s sleep may suffer from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is an obstruction of the airway when you get into deep sleep. In some people, once relaxed their tongue falls back or the airway collapses down and blocks breathing. Once their breathing is inhibited, it leads to other problems that prevent restful sleep. Sleep apnea patients are constantly waking up simply because their body is just reminding them to breathe. Luckily, sleep apnea can easily be treated with a CPAP machine. Arkansas Heart Hospital offers sleep studies by referral – ask your doctor for one today.

If you’re interested in finding more information on how to live a healthier lifestyle, check out our heart health tips here.

It’s been said that having a glass of red wine a day can do your heart good, but how true is that? The “French Paradox,” or the idea that red wine is good for your heart, first gained popularity in the 1980s. The idea stemmed from the observation that French people have a relatively low occurrence of cardiovascular disease despite the French diet being rich in fatty foods, including red wine. Hence the idea that red wine and heart health go hand in hand. Electrophysiologist Dr. Monica Lo says that is when people started studying and looking into the association of wine and cardiovascular health.

“There’s a lot of confounding factors,” she says. “It may be better fats (the French) are consuming, and they may walk more. It’s hard to figure out if their better cardiovascular health is because of what they are consuming, exercising or the red wine.”

The Mediterranean diet suggests a glass of red wine, but it is because the diet also requires more healthy living. Part of this diet includes nuts, vegetables, olive oil and good cholesterol. Lo suggests those could be reasons for better heart health and not necessarily the wine itself.

What does research say? Studies are mixed. “There is no hard evidence or a clinical trial that says that wine is beneficial. However, because of the antioxidants in the skin of red grapes, some people say it is.” Dr. Lo explains the antioxidant resveratrol in the grape skin that could lower the risk of heart disease. “However, they’ve seen that in beer so it’s not necessarily grape skin. Studies have also suggested you would have to consume a lot of wine to get the benefit of the amount of antioxidants.” Some suggest that red wine can increase good cholesterol HDL, but exercise can do this as well. So there’s not a causation that drinking wine can help with your heart.

The recommendation remains, drink in moderation, which means one serving (four oz.) per day for women and one to two servings (four-eight oz.) per day for men. “If you drink too much it can have opposite benefits. It can lead to obesity, trigger different arrhythmias and even affect the heart muscle, heart failure, “ she says. “People who don’t drink – don’t start drinking wine just for the benefit of heart health.”

So while red wine and heart health may not be as intricately linked as some believe, there are several other lifestyle choices you can make to improve your heart health. To learn more, check out our heart health tips and follow us to stay in the know.

As the popularity of vaping and e-cigarettes continues to grow, health officials are learning more and more about vaping health risks. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 44% of high school students have used an e-cigarette and 20% do so on a regular basis.

Parents need to talk to their kids about the dangers of e-cigarettes and learn how they can help if their child is vaping. Dr. Greg Bledsoe, surgeon general of Arkansas, offers the following suggestions.

Vaping has been marketed as a safe alternative to tobacco, but that is simply not true. “Any time you superheat chemicals and breathe them in, that’s not good,” Dr. Bledsoe said. “It causes significant lung damage, can cause lung disease, and in some cases is deadly.” Several vaping-related lung diseases are being investigated in Arkansas, and vaping-related deaths have been reported across the country. In some cases, the young person had only been vaping as briefly as seven days before becoming sick or dying.

When starting the conversation, approach the subject assuming your child or teen has been exposed to vaping in some capacity. While they themselves might not have tried or are vaping, they probably know someone who has. Convey your concern and the vaping health risks, despite it being relatively new. The long-term side effects are still being researched. If your child admits to vaping, resources are available to help them stop. Start by talking with your family doctor, as there are levels of treatment based on what the teen is using.

In addition to a healthy diet, regular exercise for heart health is an extremely important activity for staying healthy. Especially if you’re working a desk job five days out of the week. So Arkansas Heart Hospital offers weekly 30 minute yoga classes to its hospital and clinic staffs, led by yoga instructor Jason Henry. The idea is simple: by offering these classes, employees, nurses and staff are able to reset and take a few moments out of their stressful routine to give back to themselves. The class is structured with simple stretches, as participants are in work clothes, and simple breathing and meditation. Attendees end with a shavasana, a total relaxation pose, letting go of tension.   

Jason offers these suggestions for yoga at work: 

1. Identify your stress triggers.  Develop an awareness of your triggers and how you react to them. Try writing the triggers down and then developing a plan to address them individually.

2. Breathing exercises (Pranayama).

“Victorious Breath” (Ujjayi)- Calms and settles the mind.

• Sit up tall and comfortably; close your eyes
  
• Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth; relax your jaw, forehead, and facial muscles
  
• With your mouth closed, inhale through the nose slightly deeper than normal
  
•  Exhale slowly and fully through the nose while constricting the throat muscles to create an “ocean” sound in the back of the throat
  
• Continue for 3-5 minutes.
  

 “Alternate Nostril Breath” (Nadi Shodhana)- Creates balance and a sense of grounding; relieves anxiety.

• Sit up tall and comfortably; close your eyes
  
• Place the middle finger of your right hand on the forehead in between the eyes
  
• Close off the right nostril with the right thumb and inhale through the left nostril.
  
• Close off the left nostril with the right ring finger and exhale through the right nostril.
  
• Continue for 3-5 minutes “Inhale right, close, exhale left; Inhale left, close, exhale right…”
  

3.    Meditation. Quiet the mind by focusing all thoughts on a single object, mantra (word/phrase), or most commonly your breathing.

• Find a quiet place to sit up tall and comfortably
  
• Place the top of your hands on your thighs or knees
  
• Close your eyes; relax your jaw, forehead, and facial muscles
  
• Breathe in and out through the nose without effort; let the breath come and go naturally
  
• Focus your full attention on the object of your meditation. If it is your breathing, notice how the air enters and leaves the body. Observe how the chest, shoulders, and ribs rise and fall with each breath. If your mind wanders, simply bring the attention back to your breath.

4.    Chair exercises. For all of these, sit up tall and keep the spine neutral and long; avoid rolling chairs.

• Forward fold- With feet flat on the floor, knees bent; inhale and lengthen the spine. Tuck your belly in and exhale, folding over your legs and bringing your chest towards your thighs. Maybe wrap your arms around your legs to intensify the stretch, but be gentle. Sit up and counter the forward fold with a slight backbend; arching the chest forward.
  
• Spinal twist- With feet flat on the floor, knees bent; inhale lengthen the spine and tuck the belly in. On an exhale, twist the torso to the right placing the left hand on your right knee and right hand on the back of the chair. Hold for 2-3 breaths, then reverse, twisting to the left.
  
• Wrist stretches- With feet flat on the floor, knees bent; sit up tall and lengthen the spine. Extend one arm out straight, palm facing up. Use the opposite hand to gently pull the fingers down; opening the wrist. Release and turn the palm facing down.  Let the hand fall, fingers pointing down. Press the top of the hand into the palm of the opposite hand. Repeat on the other side then roll the wrists.
  
• Seated pigeon/hip opener- With feet flat on the floor, knees bent; sit up tall with your spine straight. Place the right foot on top of the left knee at a 90-degree angle. Flex the foot to protect the knee joint. Hold for 5-10 breaths then repeat on the other side.
  
• Side body stretch- With feet flat on the floor and knees bent, sit up tall and lengthen the spine. Place the left hand on left hip and inhale with the right arm up. As you exhale, bend to the left, reaching the right arm up and over. Hold for 5-10 breaths and repeat on the other side.
  

Eat well, sleep well, and exercise daily. Nothing combats stress, anxiety and illness like healthy living. Take care of your body by making healthy food choices, getting plenty of rest and exercising daily. Even minor changes to your daily routine can have a major impact on your overall well-being.

To learn more about how to best exercise heart health, check out our full blog, where you’ll also find amazing heart healthy recipes and health tips for your heart.