What is the first thing we think if we hear the word heart? Perhaps, it can be love, husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, or our family. Some may also think of valentine’s day or others call it heart’s day.

Since we celebrate Heart Month every February and Valentine’s Day is approaching, let’s talk about heart before we fall in love. According to Merriam-Webster, heart is a hollow muscular organ of the body that expands and contracts to move blood through the arteries and veins. The blood supplies the body with oxygen and nutrients which is the vital role of the heart in our body. The heart is also regarded as the center of a person’s thoughts and emotions, especially love or compassion. Therefore, we need to take care of our hearts.

The first thing we need to do is to eat healthy food. Eating more of fruits and vegetables is good for our hearts because it contains fiber that will help us in lowering bad cholesterol as well as blood pressure. On the other hand, eating too much of salty and fatty food will result to increase in blood pressure and bad cholesterol. And, increase in blood pressure and bad cholesterol may result to heart disease.

Another thing that we can do is to be more active and maintain healthy weight. Physical activity or exercise can help to strengthen the heart’s muscle to become more efficient and able to pump blood throughout our body. When we stay active, we will also achieve our healthy weight. This can also help in improving blood cholesterol and blood pressure.

Furthermore, smoking can harm our heart. The effect of smoking to our hearts include increase in blood clotting, increase risk of abnormal heart rhythms, damage blood vessels and others. Increase in blood clotting can result in blocked arteries and can lead to heart attack and stroke while the abnormal heart rhythms may cause sudden death. Avoid smoking is one way of taking care of our heart.

In addition, studies show that positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health especially our heart. So being a positive thinker is a way to a healthy heart.

So remember, before falling in love with someone, let us fall in love with our hearts first to ensure that we are healthy and ready to love someone. Because loving ourselves is the first step in accepting someone in our lives. (CPF)