Did you know that approximately 61 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease – roughly 20% of the total population? The combination of high-fat, high-sodium processed foods, increased portion sizes, and sedentary lifestyles has started an epidemic in the United States that is largely based on our own consumption and activity habits.

With all of the new information coming out each month about natural dietary supplements and improvements in heart health, this is an exciting time for learning ways to give your heart extra years of life. There are many vendors offering natural supplements to help cardiac health, but some definitely stand out in comparison.

Placebo Effect

One of the more interesting phenomena that can occur in the human body is “the placebo effect” – an improvement in a physical condition without the administration of the correct medicine. Instead, patients receive something like a sugar pill, or a saline solution IV (intra-venous), but believe they are getting the proper medicine.  Simply by believing this, their conditions improve.

Numerous studies have shown the harmful effects that mental stress can have on the body. Physical effects range from loss of sleep to aches and pains, from the head down through the stomach and digestive tract – and all of these effects come from tension that can affect your circulatory system.

The ways we respond to stress can be even more harmful to the body than the stress itself. Stressful triggers lead to such destructive habits as excessive alcohol consumption, tobacco usage, eating to achieve calm rather than to sate hunger, and anxiously rushing through tasks to get to the next goal.