Centering Heart Health in the Workplace
In 2019, I had an emergency heart surgery that emphasized the importance of heart health. Though I understood the correlation between heart health and stress, my life didn’t necessarily reflect it. I was in what many people would call “hustle mentality”, constantly working and hitting ever moving goals. My stress induced heart surgery was a firm reminder to cultivate a healthy relationship with work and to speak on the importance of heart health as a central part of workplace culture.
According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors. As mentioned before, work related stress can also harm your heart. This can be the case even if you’re happy with the work you do. Although difficult, it is important to manage stress levels and create a healthy work life balance. It’s also essential for employers to optimize for healthy work environments where employees feel supported and are encouraged to take full responsibility for their heart health.
Many companies now have corporate wellness programs and resources that foster an overall healthy lifestyle and therefore healthier hearts. Some companies give their employees gym memberships, unlimited PTO, access to healthy food options and better sleep programs. When we spend more than one third of our waking hours at work, a high quality workplace environment is conducive to positive heart health outcomes. Workplace relationships are equally important since the quality of our relationships dictate the quality of our lives and can be a major source of stress. Promoting healthy work relationships looks like having empathy and compassion for others, being cognizant that people have lives outside of work, respecting their boundaries and being inclusive of ideas, opinions, cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.
My surgery left a prominent scar that I named Maweuna (this means “God’s gift” in Ewe, my local language). It truly is a gift and I have been given a second chance to get it right and to foster conversations around heart health and work life. With Mawuena in mind, I have integrated healthy routines that promote my heart health which includes workouts, eating nutritious foods, traveling, getting adequate sleep and spending quality time with loved ones. At work, I take a more mindful approach, schedule nonnegotiable time to recharge, and cultivate meaningful relationships with my colleagues. February is American Heart Month, a time where people focus on cardiovascular health and now is a good time to check in with yourself and with those around you (especially at work.) #HeartHealth #HealthisWealth #JPMorgan #Payments