James H. O'Keefe, MD

Bringing Balance to Life

A balanced life is a key to a healthy and happy heart, and vigorous longevity. You may also notice that trying to focus on too many tasks at one time can leave you feeling nervous, numb, and overwhelmed. The human brain, amazing as it, can only focus on a few things at once; and can only hold one thought at a time. So it is very important to prioritize the essential things in our lives.

        Many people notice that when they work too many hours, or too many days in a row they start to get unhappy, cranky, and difficult to be around. You may also notice that trying to focus on too many tasks at one time can leave you feeling nervous, numb, and overwhelmed. The human brain, amazing as it, can only focus on a few things at once; and can only hold one thought at a time. So it is very important to prioritize the essential things in our lives.

        A balanced life is a key to a healthy and happy heart, and vigorous longevity. We all get out of balance sometimes, and this creates stress in our lives and predisposes to an irritable heart and a sour attitude. On the other hand, balance feels good and promotes health, healing, and happiness. The more often you can achieve and maintain a healthy balance in your life, the better.

       Returning to the basics brings balance to our lives. Everyone has his or her own way of finding balance, but for most people it involves focusing on things like family and friends, rest and relaxation, fitness and fun, and nature and nutrition. I have learned that when I make it a point to regularly devote time and energy to these priorities, I feel more peaceful, less stressed, more energetic, and “just happy to be alive”, to use one of my mother’s aphorisms. Especially when you are feeling stressed and under the gun, try to simplify your life by coming back to these fundamentals and see if restoring a healthy balance doesn’t help to make your heart feel more at peace.

Rest and Relax

       Get your sleep and rest. Sleep is a time for healing and rejuvenating. Modern life is too often full of pressures, anxieties, and hassles and this causes our stress hormones like cortisol to rise. Cortisol raises your blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol levels and causes food cravings, especially for junk food. If you shortchange your sleep, these stress hormones accumulate and can lead to obesity and many diseases. Deep and restful sleep calms your system, and resets these stress hormones back down to their healthy ranges. You awaken renewed, recharged, and reinvigorated. Problems that felt overwhelming when you collapsed into bed just eight hours ago often seem perfectly manageable in the bright light of a new day when you feel rested and re-energized.

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