The 4 New Year’s Resolutions Cardiologists Always Make

It’s the season when many people set New Year’s resolutions for the year ahead, and these goals are often related to physical health.

Experts say there’s one big area that many people should focus on when it comes to their well-being: cardiovascular health.

“Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in America,” said Dr. William Cornwell, a cardiologist at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. “And, sadly, people… lack a clear understanding of the health or unhealth of their hearts until something catastrophic happens, such as a heart attack or a stroke.”

But there are lifestyle habits you can adopt to manage some of the factors ― like high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure ― that put you at risk of heart attack and stroke.

Cardiologists say they encourage these lifestyle habits every year. Below, doctors shared with HuffPost the New Year’s resolutions they set and recommend to patients in the name of heart health.

Committing or recommitting to exercise.

No surprise here: All of the experts we spoke to said exercise is an important resolution to set every single year.

“First and foremost, from a cardiac standpoint regarding cardiovascular health, exercise needs to be at the forefront,” Cornwell said.

“For me, personally, it is a part of my everyday routine and every year,” he said. “There needs to be a renewed commitment to ensure that exercise is at the forefront of everything that you should be thinking about to improve or maintain your cardiac health.”

“Exercise also brings a number of other benefits to other organ systems, in addition to improvements in quality of life and your overall ability to function well without symptoms,” Cornwell noted. “So, for many reasons — the heart really only being one of many — if there was going to be one New Year’s resolution, exercise should be the one.”

Admittedly, it can be hard to jump into fitness in January, a month marked by early sunsets and cold temperatures in much of the country. But it’s still important to prioritise movement during this time of year, said Dr. Johanna Contreas, a member of the National Hispanic Medical Association and a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Health System in New York.

“Winter months, we tend to see an increase in cardiovascular disease and heart attacks and heart failure, hospitalisation,” Contreas said, “because those winter months, you’re more indoors, less likely to be active. So, we always try to tell patients: Think about ways that you can remain active.”

In other words, your version of exercise does not have to take the form of an outdoor run or walk. You could focus on walking up and down the stairs throughout the day, making a point to get up from your computer after long meetings, or signing up for a fitness app that allows you to exercise from home. (Peloton, Alo Moves and FitOn are all good options.)

As for how much you need to exercise each week, Cornwell said the American Heart Association’s guidelines recommend 150 to 300 minutes of mild to moderate-intensity exercise (like brisk walking, doubles tennis or gardening), or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous exercise (like running, jumping rope or swimming laps), each week.

Making small adjustments to your cooking regimen can create meaningful change — like not eating meat one day a week, or mixing cauliflower in with your rice.

Daniel de la Hoz via Getty Images

Making small adjustments to your cooking regimen can create meaningful change — like not eating meat one day a week, or mixing cauliflower in with your rice.

Knowing their numbers.

“I tell people, [if] you really want to start a healthy year, know your numbers and know what is healthy for you,” Contreas said.

When talking about “numbers,” experts are referring to things like a person’s blood pressure, cholesterol and fasting glucose, said Dr. Elizabeth Jackson, director of the cardiovascular outcomes and effectiveness research program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medicine.

High cholesterol and high blood pressure can put you at increased risk for heart attack and stroke, which means they’re important to manage through medication and/or lifestyle changes.

Jackson also recommends “knowing your fasting glucose, because we know that in the U.S. we have a high prevalence of diabetes, but we also have a high prevalence of pre-diabetes — people who are not quite meeting the definition of diabetes, but they’re not in the normal range.”

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, having diabetes makes you two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

You can ask your doctor for your numbers, and they can either share the data they have on file or order tests to determine this information.

“It’s important to know where you’re at in terms of those numbers, but also not to be discouraged if numbers are out of whack,” Jackson noted.

You can get to a healthier place by adhering to lifestyle adjustments like sticking to an exercise regimen, quitting smoking, and more ways that are outlined in the AHA’s Life Essential 8. Additionally, you can talk to your doctor about medication to see if that’s the right choice for you.

Focusing on their nutrition.

Eating a nutritious diet full of things like fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean protein and beans is known to be beneficial for your heart health and your health overall.

According to Jackson, thinking wholeheartedly about your diet is a good goal for the new year.

To focus on your nutrition, Jackson suggests food-prepping for the week so you’ll have something nutritious to grab when you’re hungry. She also suggests trying out new heart-health recipes each week. The American Heart Association has recipes, she noted, that can help maintain or improve your cardiac health.

If this feels too daunting, Contreas said, you can try simple hacks like adding vegetables to your rice to make your meals more nutritious. Additionally, you could try eating vegetarian a few days a week, or even for a few meals a week.

Contreas noted that it’s important to be mindful of your salt intake, too. Consuming too much salt can increase your blood pressure, she said.

And, as mentioned above, high blood pressure can put you at risk for heart attack and stroke.

Prioritising sleep.

“Sleep is very important,” Contreas said. “Sleep deprivation, we know now, is very unhealthy, and it can cause increasing cardiovascular disease” and put you at higher risk for depression and high blood pressure.

Contreas said one of her New Year’s resolutions is to help workers at her hospital get better sleep, in particular those who have to work the night shift.

It’s recommended that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. “It may not be possible every night,” Contreas acknowledged. “But as much as we can stick to [it] would be important.”

Jackson and Cornwell both pointed out that healthy sleep is part of the AHA’s guidelines to better cardiovascular health, and is an important goal to focus on every year.

One tip: Don’t give up on these goals if you get distracted from time to time.

“We don’t have to go and be perfect every day right away,” Jackson said. “It’s not like January 1 starts, and all of a sudden your lifestyle habits are going to change dramatically and never go back.”

You should cut yourself some slack if you miss a day at the gym or fall back into an old habit you’re trying to break. Additionally, it’s OK to let yourself have rest days (your body needs them!) and allow yourself desserts and foods that aren’t particularly heart-healthy, too.

“But, knowing that if you’re putting in more healthy-type behaviours — healthy diet, physical activity, good sleep — most days, or more than you were, then that’s contributing,” Jackson said. “It really adds up.”

Missing a workout, or having a meal that isn’t great for your high cholesterol, isn’t going to put you back at zero.

“Our cardiovascular health is not just turning on a switch. It’s a holistic view of your diet, your physical activity, your sleep patterns, your lifestyle, together with those numbers for those traditional risk factors of blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol,” Jackson said. “It’s really something that is a lifestyle, something to follow and think about your whole life.”

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Science Says You Should Say ‘No’ To That Party You’re Dreading

’Tis the season for indulging in food, premium telly, getting new, soft PJs, and cold, dark evenings that start at 4 PM.

And for some unholy reason, people have decided that now is also the perfect time to socialise. Make that make sense (can I please just enjoy my food coma without having to face Storm Gerrit or trousers with buttons on them?).

There’s nothing worse than realising that the dreaded social event you half-heartedly committed to months ago is coming up ― but a recent paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that saying “no” to the meet-up might actually not be as big a deal as we think.

Say more…

Julian Givi, an assistant professor of marketing at West Virginia University, conducted the study after stressing about declining a wedding invitation.

In his research, he found a separate study revealing that 77% of us had accepted an invitation to an event we didn’t want to attend.

“We worry about the negative ramifications that might arise. Will the person who offered the invitation be angry? Will they think I do not care about them? Will they invite me to do something again down the road?” Givi said.

So, he got over 2,000 participants to take part in five rounds of experimentation. Half of these took on the role of invitees, and half were inviters.

They were asked to imagine themselves in real and hypothetical situations, like asking (and being asked to) events like going to a museum. they were then asked how they’d feel if someone said “no.”

And?

“Invitees have exaggerated concerns about how much the decline will anger the inviter, signal that the invitee does not care about the inviter, make the inviter unlikely to offer another invitation in the future,” the study found.

“This asymmetry emerges in part because invitees exaggerate the degree to which inviters focus on the decline itself, as opposed to the thoughts that ran through the invitee’s head before deciding.“

In other words, you’re probably overthinking how much your host cares about your absence ― so let’s tuck into those leftovers and get going on that box set, shall we?

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How I Dress To Get Through Security Lightning-Quick At The Airport

I travel frequently, often with young children. While I have learned to expect the unexpected, I have many parts of the travel process down to a science, from how to create an itinerary that works to how to make 20-hour travel days not just tolerable but enjoyable.

However, getting through airport security with ease was one of the hardest parts of the travel experience for me to master. I’m very careful about how I pack and what I wear, but it took me a long time to factor getting through airport security into the equation.

“My first piece of advice is to think ahead,” said Luis Gonzales, an Intrepid Travel tour leader in Peru who ushers scores of passengers through airports each year. Daniel Herszberg, the co-founder of Travel Insighter, who has visited every country in the world, said that knowing how to get through security quickly may mean the difference between making your flight and missing it if you’re running late.

Now that I’ve mastered my routine, I appreciate that getting through security quickly and easily can set a positive tone for my entire trip. I recently wondered if I was missing out on any tips that could make getting through airport security even easier, so I spoke to experts. Here’s what they recommend.

Avoid clothing and accessories made with pieces of metal.

While a little bit of metal on clothing — such as rivets on jeans or a snap — might not set off alarms, wearing too much metal can be problematic. Gonzales recommends not wearing belts or clothing with more than one zipper — he even suggests avoiding items with many metal buttons, such as button-fly jeans.

Herszberg has had what he thought were “basic blue jeans” set off alarms, resulting in hand pat-downs. He now avoids wearing those pants to the airport.

Put metal accessories in your bag before you get into the security line.

Many travellers like to wear everyday accessories on their trip, such as watches, rings and necklaces. They also often have items like keys and cell phones in their pocket when they get to the airport.

These should go into your bag before you get to the converter belt, Gonzales said. “It’s all about being ready when it’s your turn. This keeps things moving smoothly and takes the stress out of the experience,” he explained.

Placing these items in your bag ahead of time also lowers the chance of leaving something behind. Andrew Khan, associate director of behaviour change and expertise at Understood.org, recommends designating an outer pocket of your carry-on for these items. Alternatively, pack an empty bag in your carry-on and use it to keep loose items together when you go through security.

Wear slip-off shoes and have socks handy in summer for domestic travel.

Taking your shoes off and then putting them back on takes time and can be a pain. Wearing slip-off shoes makes the process much easier. If you decide to wear sandals during the summer, have socks ready to slip on quickly. “There’s nothing more discomforting than walking barefoot on that sticky TSA ground before a long flight,” Herszberg said.

Maybe just forget about the button-fly jeans on your next flight.

imageBROKER/Isai Hernandez via Getty Images

Maybe just forget about the button-fly jeans on your next flight.

Don’t remove shoes in international airports.

Leigh Barnes, president of the Americas for Intrepid Travel, adds that even though many countries outside of the United States don’t require passengers to remove their shoes, American passengers tend to default to taking them off anyway. It’s best to look up the rules in advance when traveling internationally or wait until you are asked to remove your shoes to take them off, he said. Otherwise, you may hold up the line and make the process longer than it needs to be. Gonzales recommends not wearing shoes with buckles or boots with zippers through security when traveling internationally.

Layer smartly.

In colder climates, many travellers arrive at the airport wearing winter coats. Be sure to remove your jacket before you arrive at security. If you have room, place it in your bag. If you have a puffer, roll it and put it in a travel pillowcase to save space. As a last resort, put your coat in a bin.

Khan recommends wearing layers so that you stay comfortable throughout the process. He explains that being too hot or cold can make going through security more stressful. If you wear a light sweater or sweatshirt without zippers, you can usually keep it on through security, Herszberg said.

Put loose items through security before your suitcase.

If you need to put any items in a bin, such as a coat, belt, shoes or a watch, send the bin through the X-ray machine before your suitcase. That way, you can gather your items quickly before your carry-on makes it through screening. You are also less likely to leave items behind, Khan said.

Pack your carry-on intentionally.

To make getting through security easier, Khan recommends being very intentional about how you pack your carry-on. Pack clothing you won’t need to remove to go through screening on the bottom of your suitcase. Then, layer items you might be asked to remove, such as laptops and liquids, on top.

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Here’s Why You Queef During Sex. (Don’t Be Embarrassed, It’s Normal.)

Queefing, as anyone with a vagina will tell you, can happen at some inopportune times: while you’re having sex, in the middle of a yoga class or during a visit to the gynaecologist.

You may have heard some people refer to queefs as “vaginal farts” (charming). But while queefs do produce a toot-like sound, we can assure you that queefing is not the same as passing gas.

We talked to gynaecologists and sex therapists to learn more about what causes queefs, some of the misconceptions about them and why they shouldn’t be as mortifying as we make them out to be.

What makes you queef, anyway?

Queefing is an involuntary bodily function that occurs when air is pushed into the vagina, gets temporarily trapped in the folds of the vaginal canal (called rugae) and is then released.

“Queefing happens when a penis, fingers or sex toy go in and out of the vagina bringing additional air along with it,” Sherry A. Ross, an OB-GYN in Santa Monica, California and the author of “She-ology: The Definitive Guide to Women’s Intimate Health,” told HuffPost. “Sex can involve a lot of thrusting of the penis in and out of the vagina, typically pushing extra air into a dead-end space.”

Certain sex positions, like doggy style where your pelvis is titled upwards, or abruptly switching from one position to another, may increase the likelihood of queefing. Even non-sexual activities, like putting in a tampon or menstrual cup, practicing yoga (like when you move out of an inversion pose) or your gyno inserting a speculum can lead to queefing.

“From my experience as an OB-GYN, almost every woman has experienced at least one episode of queefing some time during her life, sometimes even during a pelvic exam,” said Diana Hoppe, an OB-GYN in Encinitas, California.

While the gas that comes out of your rectum may have a foul odor (a result of bacterial activity in the gut), queefs are odorless, Hoppe added.

Can you prevent a queef?

There’s not much you can do to stop a queef in its tracks. You can’t just “hold it in” like you would a fart.

And as OB-GYN Sheila Loanzon told Cosmopolitan, “If you try to contract the vaginal canal to prevent air from coming in, it can cause sex to be more painful.”

Women who have previously given birth, in particular, may be more prone to queefing because pregnancy and childbirth can weaken the pelvic floor muscles. By strengthening those muscles via exercises like Kegels, you may be able to reduce your odds of queefing, Hoppe said.

“Also, when doing any abdominal exercises or weight-bearing exercise, it is important to squeeze the pelvic floor while holding the core abdominal muscles tight,” Hoppe said. “Many women squeeze abdominal muscles but do not activate the pelvic floor at the same time, thus allowing the pelvic floor to sag, increasing the likelihood of air entering into vaginal canal.”

During sex, keeping the penis, fingers or sex toy inside you while you change positions could lessen your chances of queefing because it “gives air less of an opportunity to get into the vagina,” Jamil Abdur-Rahman, an OB-GYN and the chairman of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Vista Health System in Waukegan, Illinois, told Self.

And in theory, you could just avoid certain sex or yoga positions altogether. But what’s the fun in that?

When queefing does happen, don’t sweat it.

So why does this very normal bodily function feel so embarrassing in the moment, be it during doggy-style or downward dog? It really just comes down to that pesky noise, Hoppe said.

“The stigma is due to lack of understanding the difference between release of air from the vagina and flatulence,” she said. “The sound effects may be the same though, so culturally there may be a stigma or embarrassment due to this occurring ‘down there.’”

Sex therapist Vanessa Marin underscored the fact that queefing is normal, common and “not anything to be ashamed of.” Embracing the awkwardness of the moment can even make sex more enjoyable for both partners.

“Our bodies make funny noises sometimes, and that’s OK!” she said. “Plus, there are plenty of other goofy things about sex, like getting sweaty, slipping out, getting into awkward positions and so on. The more we can laugh about these kinds of things, the more fun we’ll have during sex.”

When a queef slips out mid-coitus, you have two choices: ignore that deflating balloon sound completely or quickly acknowledge it and move on. Marin prefers the latter route.

“It’s a personal preference, but I think it’s better to just quickly acknowledge it and laugh it off,” she said. “That way you don’t have to sit there thinking about it, anxiously wondering whether or not your partner heard it.”

Is queefing ever cause for concern?

Generally, queefing is nothing to be worried about. While rare, if queefing is accompanied by pain or a bad smell, you should make an appointment with a doctor to rule out any more serious issues.

“If queefing is associated with a foul odour, it may be an indication of a vaginal infection or possible fistula, an [abnormal] connection between rectum and vagina due to previous radiation treatment or surgery that causes stool or feces to come out of the vagina,” Hoppe said.

But for the most part, queefing is a normal, if slightly awkward, fact of life. So let’s not get so hung up on it, OK?

Sex Ed for Grown-Ups is a series tackling everything you didn’t learn about sex in school — beyond the birds and the bees. Keep checking back for more expert-based articles and personal stories.

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14 Albums From 2024 To Listen To Before The End Of The Year

As 2024 starts to wind down, and we all gear up for our New Year’s Eve speculation, many of us will be feeling a little nostalgic and reflective.

Plenty of people will be using these next few days to look back at the past 12 months and their personal highlights – whether that’s in their own lives or just the TV, music and films that made the year for them.

Others, though, will be using this time to catch up on the key moments they missed out on earlier in the year.

We’ve already rounded up some of the best TV shows from 2024 to dive into now you’ve got some time on your hands, but music fans will be pleased to hear we’ve got you covered, too.

Here are 14 essential albums released in 2024 to check out before the end of the year (in the order they were released)…

Nadine Shah – Filthy Underneath

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Singer-songwriter Nadine Shah had been through a turbulent few years while putting together her fifth album, Filthy Underneath – culminating in the death of her mother, a divorce and a stint in a mental health facility.

On her fifth album, Nadine didn’t shy away from any of this when recording Filthy Underneath. Reflecting on some of her darkest times with frankness, courage and, often, a refreshing sense of humour – most notably on lead single Greatest Dancer, in which she reflects on a night in watching Strictly with her mother during lockdown, while under the influence of her mum’s pain medication, and follow-up Topless Mother, in which she pokes fun a former therapist. There’s also a beautiful ode to her late mum on See My Girl, and a lament about the current climate in the UK on Sad Lads Anonymous.

Although its heavy themes don’t make for the easiest of listens, the eclectic Filthy Underneath’s production is also a feast for the ears – like a mix of Rahim Redcar and David Bowie, in a Geordie accent.

Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine

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