10 surprising ways to keep your heart healthy

With Valentine's Day just three days away, it's time to pay some attention to your heart.

You already know you have to exercise and eat right to protect it. But lots of other little habits also can make a big difference.

Since it's American Heart Month, an Itasca Park Distrisct fitness manager challenges her clients to put some heart into their efforts to keep healthy.

She has them tally up points for heart-healthy behaviors. Some are no surprise, like taking the stairs, skipping fried food and getting a regular workout. But others are far less obvious.

We're listing them here so you can see how easy it is to reduce your risk of heart disease. You've still got to jog and eat broccoli, of course. But these other easy behaviors might just mean no one will ever have to dial 911 on your behalf.

Good deeds do come back to you

When you do a good deed or give a compliment, some of the benefits rub off on you. You get a dose of well-being simply from making others feel good.

Dr. Stephen Post, author of "Why Good Things Happen to Good People" (Broadway, 2007, $24), calls it a "helper's high" and links volunteering to better health.

Research backs him up. A study of 600 older adults, published in the Journal of Health Psychology found those who volunteered the most were 44 percent less likely to die during a five-year period.

Giving from the heart apparently does good things for the heart.

Hope for the earth, health for the heart

How does putting that aluminum can in the right bin give a boost to your ticker? For one thing, a cleaner environment means better health for everyone.

A quicker benefit comes from doing good for others and being optimistic about the future. That's why recycling is one of the things fitness manager Lori Neubauer wants clients to do as part of the "Heartsmart Challenge" at the Itasca Park District.

Just as for volunteers, highly optimistic people live longer. One study in the Archives of General Psychiatry followed 941 people for nine years and found optimistic men and women were 23 percent less likely to die of heart-related causes compared to those who were very pessimistic.

So be a good citizen, help the planet, help future generations and help your heart.

Brush and floss 'em every single day

Do your gums bleed when you floss your teeth? Or -- perish the thought -- do you skip flossing? You might have periodontal disease, and that's linked to higher rates of heart disease.

It seems the bacteria that causes inflammation in your gums does the same in your arteries, according to a study reported in the Journal of Periodontology.

This is an easy problem to fix. Dr. Susan Karabin, president of the American Academy of Periodontology, says people can ward off heart disease easily and inexpensively simply by brushing and flossing their teeth every day and making regular visits to a dentist.

You can't be sad if you're laughing

And sadness, or other kinds of mental stress, impair the endothelium, the protective barrier lining your blood vessels.

That's no good, and there's science to prove it.

University of Maryland Medical Center researchers studied 300 people and their likelihood to laugh or to be hostile in certain situations. Sure enough, the ones who had heart disease also had higher ratings for hostility and lower rankings for laughter.

D. Michael Miller, director of the university's Center for Preventive Cardiology, thinks you can change where you stand.

His prescription: laugh a few times a day. If it doesn't come naturally, watch funny videos, visit a comedy club or try Laughter Yoga classes or laughter clubs that are popping up at some senior centers, hospitals and fitness clubs.

Not six, not nine -- get eight hours

Go ahead and cuddle up with that pillow.

Compared to women who slept eight hours a night, those who slept five hours a night or less had a 50 percent increased risk of developing heart disease. So reports researcher Dr. Najib T. Ayas, a sleep specialist with Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, in a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study followed nearly 72,000 women between 1986 and 1996. In addition, it found that women who slept six hours a night were at a 20 percent greater risk for developing heart disease and women who slept seven hours a night had a 10 percent greater risk.

Stay in the eight-hour range, though -- women who slept too much (nine hours or more) had a 38 percent greater risk.

Your heart's true longing: granola

Do you groove to granola? Keep it up. Researchers at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that people who ate whole-grain cereal seven or more times a week had a 28 percent lower risk of developing heart failure than those who ate refined cereals (the researchers didn't even consider those who eat sausage and eggs).

Even people who ate whole-grain cereal between two and six times a week lowered their risk by 22 percent.

"A whole-grain, high-fiber breakfast may lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol and prevent heart attacks," said Dr. Luc Djousse, lead study author.

Here comes the sun, and I say it's all right

Whether you choose the Beatles, Debussy or "Hey There Delilah," many studies find that listening to music can reduce stress and benefit the heart.

A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study found that relaxing music helped recovering heart attack patients by reducing their anxiety, as well as their heart and respiratory rates.

Unfortunately, the IRS won't let you write off your iPod as a medical device. Not yet, anyway.

Take a taste of a new fruit or veggie

Meat and potatoes, potatoes and meat. It's not a recipe for a healthy heart.

"You need to get variety into your diet," Neubauer says.

If you delight your palate with novel healthy foods and different healthy preparations, you're more likely to stick with an eating plan that's low in fat, salt, sugar and refined carbs.

Broiled salmon with fresh mango, rosemary and raspberry coulis, anyone? If you eat that way, you'll never miss mashed potatoes and gravy.

Nagging is negative, cleaning is cardio

Ready? Set? It's cardio cleaning!

That's one way to put on a positive face if the chore falls mainly on you.

Neubauer suggests working up a sweat. Since you have to do the job anyway, you might as well get a good workout from it.

Scrub floors vigorously, run up and down stairs with laundry, put some muscle into scouring the tub -- what ever it takes.

Are they more important than family?

If you want a long and healthy life, keep a circle of good friends, a study reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests.

After following 1,500 people over age 70 for 10 years, researchers found those who had the strongest network of good friends were 22 percent less likely to die than those with the weakest friendships.

Surprisingly, having close contact with children and relatives did not have much impact on the risk of death.

The researchers suggested friends may help to keep your mood and self-esteem up and help you cope with difficulties.