Studies show that optimists and people who worked towards improving their well-being enjoyed a 38% lower risk of having a heart attack and a 39% lower chance of a stroke.
A positive outlook on life even benefits people who already have cardiovascular disease.
And here are a few things to implement to decrease the risk of developing heart disease:
Practice positivity
Identify negativity. Make a list of areas in your life where you have negative thoughts. This might be about work, relationships, chores, etc. Focus on improving one area at a time to get fast results & not become stressed out.
Find humor in everything. Smile during challenging times. Try to find humor in every situation. Studies show that laughter actually strengthens your heart, and makes it the machine it deserves to be.
Hang out with positive people.
Be self-amused & your own best friend. Don’t beat yourself down for your shortcomings, and try to stop comparing yourself to others. Look at everything with a certain sense of curiosity.
Practice gratefulness
Practicing gratefulness increases our state of wellbeing and our happiness. And thousands of studies have shown that happiness is a determining factor for heart health.
Consider keeping a gratitude journal. Each morning, pick up your gratitude journal and write 10 things you are grateful for. Remember what makes you happy in life.
You’ll start seeing effects only after 2 to 3 weeks after starting this.
Don’t hold grudges
When someone makes a bad decision and that affects us it can cause quite a lot of stress, which is bad for our heart
You probably hear this a lot: Forgive people. You only have one life. You’ll be less stressed and your health will be better...
It’s easier said than done though.
Here are 5 steps to help you forgive someone (or yourself) for having done something (or not done something):
➊ Identify exactly how you feel and accept what happened because time isn’t going backwards.
➋ Don't forget that even good people make mistakes sometimes.
➌ Try getting all of the anger out of your system. Breathing, relaxation, and yoga exercises help a lot.
➍ Release both the offender and yourself from the pain. Forgiveness is your responsibility & if you don’t do anything, you’ll only be imprisoned by your own anger and you know how bad that feels…
➎ Finally, whenever you feel enough courage, face the offender, and let him or her know that you want to move on. If you don’t want to have him or her in your life anymore that’s totally fine, but tell that to the offender in person.