February is Heart Month: Let’s Get Out And Go!

February is designated as Heart Month to help raise awareness for the Heart Health. Young or old we all need to take care of our hearts, and that was brought home quickly for me when J started having a serious heart problem a few years ago.

To make a long story short, after a long (and scary) 12-18 months of unexplained and sudden heart issues that were being brushed off as panic attacks, we were fortunate enough to walk into the ER at just the right time, with just the right Doctor who recognized what was happening (a-fib with a super high heart rate). He ended up being cardioverted that night, and again a month or two later (right in our basement, while he was wide awake and I was holding his IV bag. It was…exciting).

The week before halloween 2013, he was on an event monitor and had what he considered to be a minor event. Well that “minor” event included his heart beating at 300 beats per minute! No, that was not a typo. As you can imagine, when they saw that they called us immediately. On October 30th he went in for an ablation, where they go through all the circuits in your heart until they find the one that is causing the problem. After a very long day for both of us, they found an extra circuit and abated it, and he was discharged. Since then he hasn’t had any issues with a-fib or a super high heart rate, and fingers crossed it stays that way!  

So many other people aren’t that lucky though. I know a few people who had undiagnosed heart conditions and passed away in their 20’s and 30’s because of it. And I myself have had issues with heart palpitations when I was suffering from overtraining syndrome. Palpitations are scary enough, even when you know it’s because you’re body is over tired, and other else. I don’t wish heart problems on anyone.

And that is why this month with a little help from Staples, I am gladly joining the #GetOutAndGo campaign to encourage both myself and others to get out of their comfort zone and get their heart rates up in a healthy way while encouraging their friends and family members to do the same.

To help me on my #GetOutAndGo journey, Staples sent me a n UP24 by Jawbone to track my fitness, along with some snacks to keep me powered along the way, 

and a set of resistance bands to get my heart pumping while building some muscle!

I’ve already committed to doing yoga everyday during the month of February, and while that might not seem like I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone since I’m a yoga instructor I promise you I am. Instead of throwing down my mat and doing whatever poses I want to do that day, I’m committing to instead do yoga flows created by someone else. Which means doing all of the poses I don’t enjoy and therefore don’t practise very often like wheel.

(this photo was taken on Saturday, I also practised wheel yesterday. Maybe I’ll do a comparison at the end of the #GetOutAndGo challenge to see if I’ve improved)

But since I had already told y’all I was doing the 30 days of yoga challenge, I decided it would be a bit of a cop-out to only use that as my challenge. So my extra challenge is going to be to try and actually Get Out And Go this month and find ways to be active outside in all this snow (with like 50cm more in the forecast for today!). whether that be by walking, snowshoeing, coasting, skiing – whatever! The point is I am going to try to get outside at least 8 times in the next 4 weeks, get some fresh air in my lungs (even if that air is freeeeeezing) some vitamin D, and get my heart pumping!

This is Eastern Canada after all. We’re still a long way from spring, I might as well make the most of it!

I’ll be sharing my adventures on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #GetOutAndGo so you can all follow along. Let’s all Get Out And Go this February and help make our hearts just that much healthier in the process!