Are you keeping your ticker in tune while working from home? It’s sometimes hard to remember the basics when you’re juggling home and work. But your family needs your heart!

You already know to lose weight if you’re overweight, move around, get enough sleep, stop smoking. But what else can you do to keep it healthy?

Drink it down

You know sugary soda isn’t good for you, but neither is diet soda. It can trick your body into expecting calories due to the sweetness. You also know to avoid fruit juice  – the whole fruit comes complete with the fiber you need. So what can you drink?

Water, obviously! We wrote about hydration tricks last year if you don’t like the taste. But there are some other beverages that can be healthy.

• Wine or beer in moderation: Not too much, but about a glass a day (of either) can be good for your heart.
• Coffee (black) : It’s linked to lower rates of heart failure and heart disease.
• Green or black tea (no sweetener or cream) : Appears to lower your bad cholesterol, or LDL.

Take your meds

Especially when you’re being treated for high cholesterol or blood pressure! Lowering those two to healthy levels is key for your heart. But all medications count, including those for diabetics.

Also, let your doctor know what vitamins, herbs and supplements you’re taking. Because supplements aren’t regulated the way drugs are, the labels don’t have to tell you how they interact with medications. But you may find that they interfere with what your medicine is trying to do!

Treat yourself from time to time

When you cut out all the pleasurable stuff from your lifestyle, you feel deprived. That’s how you end up binging or splurging! 

If you eat no treats for a period of time, you’re likely to dive right back in and overdo it. When you’re trying to stay on a budget, if you cut out all the pleasurable experiences you’ll end up with a huge shopping spree. 

Sometimes when you’re feeling too busy or overwhelmed, you might cut back on the fun. You end up putting your nose to the grindstone and drive forward as fast as you can… until you burn out or get physically sick because you’re not taking care of yourself.

So don’t cut out everything you like when you’re trying to keep your heart safe! The occasional piece of birthday cake won’t kill you. If you have a favorite treat, feel free to indulge on holidays or other special days.

Likewise, when you’re cutting your budget, make sure you leave a little room for the things you truly enjoy. Cut out the things that won’t make you feel deprived. You can also see if there are cheaper ways to have your fun. If you enjoy hanging out with friends, maybe try happy hour or hanging out at home. 

And always, always make sure that you keep a little fun in your life! If you have hobbies you enjoy, make sure you’re setting aside time for them. Get the whole family in on the fun when you can as well. If you have things to do that you don’t particularly like, see if you can gamify them to make them more bearable.

Moving more is important, so stand up sometimes while you work! We can help you lift your folding table up to the correct height so your back doesn’t hurt.

Lift Your TableⓇ folding table risers … save your back!