33 Ideas to Improve Heart Health & Reduce Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is always a hot topic of discussion in our work so we've come up with a host of simple suggestions on how you can help colleagues improve the health of their heart, as well as step up their general health, wellbeing and performance.

We'll be sharing the advice over the coming weeks, starting today with a few of our recent blog posts which include 28 easy to implement healthy heart lifestyle changes:

5 instant fixes to ensure perfect blood pressure

9 top tips to help manage pressure

Walk or run your way to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels

Alcohol, blood pressure and successful strategies for healthy drinking

Simple strategies for healthy blood pressure

Six top lifestyle changes for reducing stress in the workplace

If you're looking for ways to raise wellbeing awareness and help colleagues improve their health and energy, here are 5 great ideas you can put into action right away:

1) Set up blood pressure checks  
We can arrange blood pressure checks for staff and also provide everyone with a practical action plan to optimise fitness, diet, sleep and stress management 

2) Arrange a wellness workshop
Workshops are great for education, accountability and action.  We have a range of wellness workshops including, 'the best training I've ever attended'.

3) Organise a wellbeing event
A wellbeing day provides a great opportunity for staff to ask questions and discover key information that makes a huge difference to how they feel and how they perform. 'Feedback has been great and take up was high too'.

4) Read our 29 tips to keep staff healthy in 2014 

5) Sign up for our free Wellness Toolkit 
The Toolkit gives you access to an ongoing range of resources to keep your wellness programme fresh and exciting, and ensure staff are engaged in getting the most out of their health, energy and performance every day.  Read more and sign up for your toolkit here.

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Our Top 6 Most Read Blog Posts of 2013

As we approach the end of the year we thought you might be interested to look back on our most read blog posts of the last 12-months:

1) Manage your energy levels while traveling with Healthy Hotel Eating: a new perspective

2) Learn how to optimise your early morning exercise and food routines by reading Start The Day Right

3) Understand how to make the best use of your time with Beat Burnout: 7 Ways to Create an Extra Hour in the Day

4) Manage pressure and build resilience with National Work Life Week: Improving personal effectiveness forever

5) Stay calm and keep your heart healthy with 5 Instant Fixes to Ensure Perfect Blood Pressure

6) Read everything you need to know to guarantee a fantastic wellbeing programme in your business; 47 Tips for Corporate Wellbeing Programme Success

We also ran a hugely popular series of case studies entitled Inspiring Wellness Success Stories.  These tales of wellbeing triumph are a guaranteed source of motivation for your wellness objectives in 2014.

We wish you well for the New Year and if you're looking for some new ways to raise energy and engagement levels in your business with some targeted wellness initiatives, just let us know.

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5 Instant Fixes to Ensure Perfect Blood Pressure

Our recent blog discussing Simple Strategies for Healthy Blood Pressure proved very popular so we thought we'd add some further ideas.

Ensuring healthy blood pressure is a simple way for individuals and organisations to stay healthy and productive so here are 5 key points everyone should think about.

1. Know your numbers
Many people suspect they have high blood pressure but not everyone knows their current measurements.

Instant action:
If it's more than three months since you had your blood pressure checked either make an appointment today to have it checked within the next two weeks or order your own blood pressure monitor online so that you can check it regularly in the comfort of your own home.

2. Design a balanced fitness programme
In the quest to reduce blood pressure or maintain healthy numbers exercise is crucial, but make sure your programme has balance and sustainability.

Exercising periodically will help, but not as much as planning a routine of challenging activity every 2-3 days.

Similarly, thrashing yourself now and again with some kind of cardio activity such as running, football, rugby or squash might make you feel better but won't stabilise your blood pressure as effectively as a rounded routine of cardio exercise, strength training, mobility, stability and flexibility work.


Instant action:

Take a 20-minute walk within the next hour and while you walk plan your next 10-days of exercise which should include 4 workouts containing a mixture of the above elements.  Ideally the first workout should take place today or tomorrow.

3. Clear your head
A lot of stress is rooted in our perception of 'busyness' and feeling overwhelmed.  Often the difference between feeling in control and feeling bounced around the day like a pinball isn't very dramatic - simply taking a moment here and there to review your progress and decide on priorities will make all the difference.


Instant action:

Find a quiet spot and sit down, close your eyes and take 20 deep breaths.

4. Plan your alcohol strategy
Our blog Alcohol, Blood Pressure & Successful Strategies for Healthy Drinking from last month will help here.


Instant action:

Read the blog and make a plan today and for the next 10-days

5. Get some sleep

A lack of sleep, rest and recovery is a huge contributor to high blood pressure so you need to take an active role in how much sleep you get through the week and weekend.  Our blog Need to Sleep Better will help.

Instant action:

Whether you're an 9-hour or a 6-hour sleeper or somewhere in-between, one night out of the next three should be set up so you get your required sleep time.  Pick which night, plan the required bed time and the wake time for the following morning and then see how good you feel the next day.

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