Stress makes you sick and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack. It is therefore important to reduce excessive stress, but how to do it? According to the American Heart Association, there is a very simple way to reduce stress and extend your life, eating with your family! This emerges from a study performed a few weeks ago and published on the American Heart Association website (Web Site American Heart Association).
The damages of stress
Reducing stress is essential to improve health and quality of life. Excessive stress, in fact, as evidenced by numerous scientific researches, causes aging faster, increases the levels of inflammation and the risk of developing diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, depression and cellular degeneration (Slavich et al, Teach Psychol, 2016). However, the frenetic pace, the demand for ever higher goals and a large number of commitments are associated with an increase in stress and we are all called to work, study, face exams and make decisions, all situations we cannot escape from. So what to do to reduce stress and gain health? The American Heart Association comes to the rescue with a very simple and affordable proposal, as explained by Dr. Erin Michos, associate professor of cardiology at the prestigious John Hopkins School of Medicine and volunteer at the American Heart Association. Let's try to understand better,
Eating with the family, a small remedy with great benefits
During the month of September 2022, a survey of 1000 American citizens was conducted. From this study it emerged that, in 91% of cases, therefore in almost all of the interviewees, eating together, with family or closest friends, leads to a significant reduction in stress levels. Not only that, eating with loved ones helps to understand the importance of socializing and sharing, remember that every now and then you need to take a break and stop and in addition, as emerges from the survey, in 60% of cases eating with family and friends increases the probability to make healthy choices regarding what to eat.
Conclusions
Sometimes healthy advice is not followed because it is considered too difficult to put into practice, just think of workouts in the gym or too restrictive diets. Here, however, we have a simple and pleasant piece of advice, which we can all put into practice. Let's try as much as possible to eat in company, with our loved ones, and to share moments of relaxation and health, serving healthy foods rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant substances. This will bring us good mood but also more health for our whole body, our heart and our immune system.
