The Surprising Connection Between Sleep and Heart Health

By Roz Jones

Diet and exercise may be the first things that come to mind when you think about taking care of your heart. However, what you do overnight counts too.

Sleep deficiencies can contribute to many heart conditions, and heart troubles can make it difficult to sleep.

Experts have been aware of a link between sleep apnea and high blood pressure for many years. Now, ongoing research is discovering similar interactions related to insomnia and other sleep disorders.

Learn more about how you can use sleep to keep your heart healthy.

Understanding How Sleep Affects Your Heart

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one third of adults get less than the minimum recommendation of seven hours of sleep each night, adding to their risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

What does that mean for you?

Consider these factors:

Count your hours. Lack of sleep can disrupt your hormones and cause calcium buildup and other changes in your arteries. On the other hand, excessive sleep of more than nine hours is associated with higher health risks too. Most adults need to aim for seven to eight hours nightly.
Watch your blood pressure. Your heart slows down, and your blood pressure drops while you sleep. This nocturnal dipping gives your body a chance to heal from daily stress. Without this time off, you’re more vulnerable to hypertension and other issues.
Manage diabetes. Elevated blood sugar can harm your blood vessels. Sleep helps to stabilize blood glucose, lowering your risk for prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes.
Lose weight. Do you crave fattening foods after a restless night? Studies show that lack of sleep may throw your hunger hormones out of balance, and make you want to overeat. Excess pounds increase inflammation and strain your heart, especially if they settle down around your midsection.
Reduce sleep apnea. If you snore and feel tired during the day, you may have sleep apnea. This disorder causes you to stop breathing intermittently while you’re asleep, putting you at greater risk for heart attack, stroke, and atrial fibrillation. Ask your doctor about CPAP therapy and other options.
Minimize disruptions. Even if you go to bed early, frequent interruptions can keep you from enjoying the four essential stages of sleep. The deeper stages of non-rapid eye movement sleep are especially beneficial for your heart. In addition, continuous sleep keeps your heart rate from spiking each time you wake up.

Learn to relax. It’s natural to feel anxious sometimes, especially in these chaotic times. Relaxation practices can help you to cope and enjoy more restful sleep. Take part each day in activities that help you relax.

Almost 80% of heart disease and stroke are preventable, according to the American Heart Association. Small lifestyle changes can make a big difference.

Sufficient sleep and other heart healthy habits can lower your risk for many serious medical conditions. Talk with your doctor, so you can figure out which factors are most important for helping you to lead a longer and more active life.

I’ve just launched Shop With Roz, my online store filled with supplies and gifts for every caregiver. You can find a wide variety of products in the store to help yourself and your loved one. Check it out here!

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

It’s here, I am so excited to share a new caregiver app called CircleOf….This app will allow you to surround yourself with resources and experts from your community including ME!!!! As you are looking through the app, you will see my familiar face. I’m excited about this partnership and new ways to support you as you support your loved one. Here’s the link so you can explore the app. I would love your feedback and spread the word by sharing the link to family and friends.

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

I Heal My Heart with Hope

By Roz Jones

I believe in the old adage, “Hope springs eternal.” I know I can heal my heart with hope.

Just as the sun comes up each morning, I have faith in the healing power of hope.

I trust that the sun will come up each day. I trust that hope heals all things.

I have decided to avoid hopelessness. I choose to be hopeful, instead.

I am full of hope!

I know I am safe. I am grateful to be here. I am grateful to have my feet planted firmly on the ground, and my head floating in the clouds of hope.

I see the squirrels chasing each other around the tree trunk. That gives me hope. I feel happiness well up inside of me.

I abide in hope for a positive future.

I know that everything is okay. I feel it in my bones. I look out the window and see the perfection of all that is, and know that I can be just fine too.

I see the grass as it continues to grow, and it gives me hope. I see the leaves start to change, and I know that I can stay hopeful through all the changes that occur in life.

I stay in a place of hope that all is well.

Today, I feel my heart swell with hope. I feel optimism coursing through my veins. I feel a smile expand across my face. I am in a positive place of hopefulness and it is good.

Self-Reflection Questions:

What can I do today that will increase my hope?
Who can I call that will bring me additional hope?
Where can I go out in nature to harvest more hope?

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

5 Benefits of Having Better Conversations

By Roz Jones

Most of us spend time every day surrounded by friends, colleagues, strangers and loved ones. Whether it’s on our daily commute, sitting in the park, at home, at work, or visiting the supermarket, we see plenty of people.

Yet many of us – particularly caregivers – have a self-imposed feeling of isolation. We might say a quick “hello”, but don’t bother to have a better conversation than that.

It could be because we’re simply consumed by our own thoughts, but it could also be because we believe reaching out to a stranger will make us both feel uncomfortable, or maybe that the other person is too busy to talk.

These beliefs are unfounded. Research suggests that having regular conversations with others has positive impacts on the lives of both conversation partners. Here are five of my favorite positive developments that come from having better, deeper conversations:

Having a conversation with a stranger may leave you feeling happier. Connecting with others won’t suddenly turn a life of misery into bliss, but it can change an unpleasant moment (like waiting in line, or spending time at the doctor’s office) into something more pleasant.

When you have better, more meaningful conversations with others, you often learn things you didn’t know about. As you ask questions and listen, you pick up on little nuggets of information that help you understand and grow, as a person and even as a caregiver.

Having conversations keeps you from feeling isolated and depressed. It can also help to relieve stress. By simply opening up to your loved ones when you are having a stressful day, you will feel more relaxed. Connecting with others regularly builds a sense of belonging we all crave.

You can develop self-confidence by having meaningful conversations. When someone takes the time to listen to you, it shows you that you are valuable. Surprisingly, even conversations that make you a little uncomfortable can also boost your confidence!

Better conversations can help repair relationships. When you don’t communicate your needs, hurts, wants, desires with the ones you love, it festers and grows and can become irreparable. Taking the time to have a heart-felt open conversation puts you on the path to healing and understanding one another.

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Smile

By Roz Jones

This month, we’re discussing how you can have better conversations by utilizing different social skills, or “tools”. As a caregiver, your chance for having deep conversations can be more limited than the average person – and I want to help you make the most of the opportunities you have for connection and deeper conversations, whether that’s with your loved ones, or with a stranger in a doctor’s office.

Let’s talk about one simple gesture that is important in every conversation and encounter you have: Smiling.

Don’t underestimate the power of smiling. A warm smile is your best friend when it comes to starting a conversation. It’s the most important non-verbal cue you can give someone.

Marianne LaFrance, a Yale University psychology professor writes in her book Lip Service that a smile creates a subconscious emotional current in people who see it.

Smiles can be interpreted in a variety of ways such as friendly, mischievous, or as flirtatious. But the most preferred smile is the classic “Duchenne” smile. Named after the researcher who described it, the Duchenne smile involves moving the major muscle that pulls the corners of the mouth up in combination with the muscles that circle the eyes.

This more genuine-feeling smile stimulates the reward centers in the brains of people who see it. When you smile this way, people see you as friendly, intelligent, kind, sincere, attractive, and likable – which is a great way to start off in a conversation.

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!

3 Ways to Have a Conversation with Older Generations

By Roz Jones

Today I want to talk about having conversations with the elderly. Some people find it difficult or don’t know what to say to older people. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Whether you work or volunteer at a nursing facility, have an elderly neighbor who you want to get to know, care for an older loved one, or some other way you interact with the elderly, knowing how to have better conversations with them helps both of you thrive.

Senior members of the population are more prone to loneliness than other age groups. Weakened health, decline in physical mobility, and loss of driving privileges due to age all affect their ability to socialize. This doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy company.

3 Ways to Have a Conversation with Older Generations

Ask open-ended questions. Ask about their family, for example. Encourage them to talk about their life. Seniors are a wealth of knowledge, filled with stories from decades of life experiences, funny stories, inspiring tales of courage, relationship stories, or even shocking things like wars or living in the Great Depression.

Sit down with them with their photo albums, music records, or recipes and travel back through time, encouraging them to tell their stories behind the images.

Try to find a quiet place that is relaxing and has few distractions. Turn off radios, televisions, and your phone. Be mindful of hearing challenges they might have. You may have to speak a little louder, slower, and more distinctly so they can understand your words. Be patient if they struggle to find the right words.

Use these conversation starters to help you build relationships with older generations.

What life experiences gave you the most happiness?
How did your military experience shape you?
Tell me about your friends growing up? What was school like?
What’s your view on ….?
Do you recall the types of clothing or popular hairstyles of your youth?
What was your favorite time of day when you were younger?

After you have a look through the store, see any products you use and love as a caregiver, and think we should share them with everyone? Let me know!

Visit http://www.rozjonesent.com for more information on addressing mental health as a caregiver and check out my upcoming book!