Tasty Snack ENDS Heart Troubles (WOW!)

Did you know that mental stress can take a toll on your heart?

Long-term stress leads to high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which increases blood cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

It can also cause plaque to build up inside of your arteries… which leads to hardening of the arteries… which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and strokes.

In other words, stress is bad news.

But contrary to what most doctors will tell you, you don’t need to load up on pharmaceutical drugs to reduce stress’s impact on your heart…

All you have to do is load up on THIS tasty snack.

Heart rate variable is a measure of the fluctuation in time intervals between consecutive heartbeats.

Higher heart rate variability indicates your heart’s ability to adapt to environmental and psychological changes, while lower heart rate variability has been linked to heart disease and sudden cardiac death.

Think of it like the ability to switch gears faster in response to demands on the body.

HRV is important because it is a measure of how well your heart can meet the metabolic demands of your body (called cardiac function).

HRV is also a key indicator of how your heart is handling stress.

For this study, researchers measured HRV in patients undergoing mental stress.

Participants with above-average risk for cardiovascular disease ate a snack of almonds or a calorie-matched control snack for six weeks. The almonds made up 20 percent of their daily energy needs.

Then they measured heart rate and heart rate variability at rest and during times of mental stress.

Believe it or not, the group eating the almonds showed better heart rate regulation during times of acute mental stress than the control group.

More specifically, eating the almonds REDUCED the drop in heart rate variability that can occur during mental stress.

The end result? Improved cardiac function and reduced heart risk.

Imagine that! Simply swapping almonds for a typical snack can help reduce the negative impact that stress has on your heart.

It’s always good to reduce stress in your life as much as possible—but no one can cut it out completely. And it’s nice to know that something as simple as eating almonds can give you an extra layer of protection.

No prescription drugs necessary.