Relax Your Way To a Healthy Heart: Heart Health Hacks, No Diet or Exercise

I’m ending Heart Awareness Month with tips and ways to promote, create, and maintain a healthy heart. However, I’m bored with what you can Google or the things you read all the time. Eat healthy. Avoid smoking, drugs, and alcohol. Exercise. Obviously, there’s blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol – you get the gist.

All these are important. Yes. They’re also things most of us know. Plus, I want to be comfortable practicing (mostly) what I share and a few things (dieting!) I do not. I’ve never smoked or done drugs. I have a glass of vino every now and then because adulting requires it. The last three I don’t have much control over since preexisting conditions have hold of my blood pressure – it’s usually good, but sometimes it’s too low or too high. Cholesterol: I’m good on the bad, which I’m surprised about, but for whatever reason, I lack much of the good. My doctor even has me on medication to try to boost the good, but the bad, I’m, again, shockingly, okay. Blood sugar – ha!

Exercise, I wish. Really. I am/was an extremely active person. Like 14,000 steps, 20 levels, and dancing for at least twenty or thirty minutes to 90s pop music because I’m obsessed, which probably counts as a high-intensity aerobic workout every day. I love hiking – you get the idea. However, because of my heart (the irony) and still recovering from open-heart surgery, then another heart surgery weeks later, so it’s a double-dose, my surgeon gave me a roadmap of when I’d likely feel like myself again – two years. Technically, she said 24 months. I need to add about two and a half months due to a broken ankle and another two months because of the initial waitlist to begin physical therapy. I was looking at late November of this year without these additions. When adding these on, it’s probably more like a year from now. My balance is back (thanks, ankle), but my endurance and the bending, squatting, and lifting are pretty limited, like extremely, which is infuriating. It’s also responsible for a twenty-pound weight gain because I refuse to diet. I eat like I always have, but I can’t match the activity I once did. Luckily, it’s remained steady at twenty pounds.

I’m looking forward to shedding them, yesterday. It’s not because I want to be thin or because I’m hung up on body image. I just want to be as close to the body that I used to have. I know/think once I lose the weight, my body’s proportions may change, but at least it’s something. It’s like my hair or skin, post-chemo; I’d appreciate being the old me, even though that person wasn’t necessarily hot. I was average. I had a lot of pluses, but I also had a lot of minuses, and I think they canceled each other out. I’m okay with that.

Anyway, I got sidetracked. I love baked goods—cookies, muffins, cupcakes, and chocolate. I don’t, and won’t, deprive myself of the things I enjoy. So, my blood sugar is “yikes,” and dieting is a “no,” full-stop. However, I don’t eat terribly beyond snacking (ice cream, popcorn, etc.). For meals, I dislike most things fried. I’m not a fan of eating out much, and while some say I’m not big on veggies, that isn’t true. I don’t usually like them cooked, but I like several leafy veggies, carrots, etc., raw. I may be picky about vegetables, but I like at least one-third, if not half, of vegetables. So, I should get a B or B- at worst regarding meals. Maybe even a B+, but as far as snacking, I outright fail. With several heart and kidney problems, doctors either want me on heart or kidney diets (while similar in some aspects, they are not the same). Dieting and what I eat is incredibly important… but I eat what I eat—the end. I’m stubborn AF. They won’t win.

So, as I’ve yammered on, here are some non-diet things you may not have known. Tomorrow, I’ll post more interesting, possibly unknown tips without personal ramblings or overshares. Yes, I promise, it will lack those things and be a whacky list with at least one or two things where you’ll be like – “Check and check,” or “I totally want to do that, just because.”

Here are six lesser-known strategies that steer clear of the usual diet, blood sugar, weight, and nutritional approaches, and zero exercising!

Sauna and Heat Therapy

Yes, basking in a fabulous sauna helps your heart! It’s been studied intensively in Finland. Gist without too much scientific detail: It’s been linked to improved vascular function and reduced arterial stiffness. When people think of heart problems, arteries often pop up in their brains; here’s the answer to that problem. Heat exposure also lowers stress levels, and being stressed out is another thing that often pops up in people’s heads, with the image of someone kneeling over and such.

Cold Water Immersion and Contrast Therapy

I know! I love being contradictory, but alternating between heat and cold, such as a hot bath followed by a cold shower (sorry, boys) or immersion, may stimulate the autonomic nervous system and improve blood vessel responsiveness. According to some research, these temperature contrasts might reduce inflammation and enhance circulation. Granted, unlike a nice sauna, this needs more research to hold its weight, but I loved the contrast. No pun intended.

Sunlight! (Circadian Rhythm Optimization)

Adapting your routine to natural light cycles can significantly impact cardiovascular health. Consistent exposure to morning sunlight helps regulate your body’s internal clock and hormonal balance while limiting blue light exposure at night (sorry, that means screens people: smartphones, laptops; yes, television) supports healthy sleep architecture—a factor linked to reduced heart stress. (Getting a good night’s sleep is one of those “we know this already” factors, right? If not, I’m putting it out there. Getting enough rest is among the big “help your heart” things.)

The Forest! Being in a Forest, No Activity Required (Forest Bathing; Shinrin-yoku)

Sorry, I’m a nature fiend, except for snow and ice. I suck at meditation, yoga, etc., but I have felt a true Zen whenever I’m in nature, whether it’s hiking or boating or just feeling or watching water flow and having trees surround me; I’m in my happy place. However, aside from potentially improving mood and calmness (since not everyone is “nature folks”), this can reduce cortisol and improve overall autonomic balance. So, even if you don’t find nature relaxing, your body is grooving to it. Just being in nature, no hiking required.

Watch that Noise! (Oops, no yelling) and Reduce Environmental Exposure

Ever come across the expression, “I want to shut out all the noise?” Well, that’s something people should do. Chronic exposure to long-term noise (heavy traffic), loud noise, and air pollutants (industrial settings, ew) can contribute to inflammation and increased cardiovascular risk. (This boosts the whole forest thing, huh?) Easy fixes: Use air purifiers at home, if possible, try to choose routes with cleaner air, and watch that noise. Volume (noise) matters.

Digital Detox

You had to know this was coming. Several things above hinted, or directly pointed fingers, at it. Constant exposure to digital screens and scouring through social media can contribute to mental fatigue (this is not to be confused with mental health; this is about mental capacity and cognitive function), stress, and disrupted sleep. So, when someone says, “no screens,” they’re trying to help you live longer. Not just give you a hard time. Thank them rather than be annoyed with them.

Up and Down – Altitude Training (Intermittent Hypoxia)

Going with the unintentional theme of “natural” and your surroundings, I decided to end this with something I would never do because it causes me to go completely deaf on occasion and always activates excruciating slit-ventricle headaches (since I don’t have my resume out yet, it feels like sledgehammers from the inside of your skull, banging against it, trying to escape, so, not fun), altitude training.

Technically, its name is Intermittent Hypoxia, but it’s referred to as altitude training, which rolls off the tongue better. If you know what altitude is, you know what I’m talking about: high versus low. Based on sea level, the higher we are (in the mountains, on a plane), the less oxygen there is. The more “grounded” we are, the more oxygen we have. Florida has more oxygen than Colorado, while most of the Midwest (Nebraska, Kansas) falls between these two.

Altitude training requires simulated low-oxygen environments to trigger simulated cardiovascular adaptations. This form of hormesis may improve oxygen utilization and boost overall cardiovascular resilience. However, this tip or item on this list is the most sensitive and methodical heart health tip, which is why I saved it for last. Altitude training should be done in mild and controlled conditions, under professional guidance. I mean it. Under professional guidance, I cannot stress that enough.

* * *

So, there it is. My rant on dieting and exercise (sorry again) means I can’t do it next time I share more ways to improve heart health or give it a boost without some long dialogue about my philosophies. I’ve already shared what I have. I hope you check out tomorrow’s post with more tips because they’re even easier and much funnier than you’d think. Onward.