You can reduce your sodium intake to improve heart health. However, there is another factor that many people cannot control. This factor is just as harmful to your heart and blood circulation as a high-sodium eating pattern.
After my thyroid gland was nuked (RAI treatment), I was able to resume eating a bag of Cape Cod White Cheddar Popcorn.
But, I didn’t. In truth, after a period of relatively clean living, I felt bad about returning to the high-sodium, all-American lifestyle. “Comparatively” is important because, as my endo told me on several visits, scotch has a low sodium content.
It turns out that I’m not the only one who feels this way.
According to a study by the University of Washington, commuters who drive on highways with high traffic every day could be putting their heart health at risk. According to the report “unfiltered traffic air appeared to significantly raise passengers’ blood pressure” both while driving and up to 24 hours afterward.
Try not to be stuck in traffic when you are going to or coming from church.
The study authors said that the idea that road air pollution can have such a large impact on blood pressure is a key piece in the puzzle they are trying to solve.
But I believe there are more factors at play than the environment. Although I don’t recommend that people breathe in as much unfiltered exhaust from cars as they can, I do want to make my point.
It’s not the fumes that are the problem, but the people who produce them.
As a father of two teenage boys, I can say that nothing makes me more angry or aggravated than my fellow drivers.
The free-range jerkweasels on the freeway don’t know what the left lane is for. A distracted mom driving through stop signs in residential areas without even rolling to a stop. And the man who cuts you off at the speed you can run then drives aggressively three miles below the speed limit.
Ingratitude is the worst.
Last week, I took my 13-year-old to the Y. While we were about to turn off the side street onto a major highway, I saw a man in a Nissan who was trying to leave a corner 7-11. He must have been there for at least five cars with no sign of relief. Instead of pulling up to my stop sign, I motioned to him to make his move.
I was right behind the Nissan at the I-25 exit ramp when the light turned green. As the I-25 exit ramp narrowed down to one lane the unappreciative jerkweasel cut us off.
I should have never let Mr. Nissan take me down like that. All I expected was a Nice Guy wave, but what I got instead was being cut off at a busy onramp. Such people are dangerous.
Even if the other drivers were to spew nothing but Chanel fragrance instead of hydrocarbons, it could be enough to raise a person’s heart rate.
