Diastole Is the Lesson: What the Heart Teaches About Sustainability

Our heart offers many lessons about sustainability and how to live a long, healthy, and whole life.

The heart feeds itself with the coronary arteries

Do you care for yourself as well as others?

Do you nourish yourself adequately?

A pumping heart has distinct phases- systole and diastole.

Do you practice systole and diastole in your life?

Diastole is 2/3 cardiac cycle.

Do you rest and refill 2/3 of the time?

Effective diastole is essential for effective systole.

The heart requires time to fill and space to fill.

Do you slow down and restore? Do you frequently and regularly prioritize time and space for yourself? Or, do you live from vacation to vacation?

You are likely experiencing diastolic dysfunction.

How do you treat diastolic dysfunction?

• Slow down your heart rate —> Mindfulness, breathing, walking, pausing, resting, breathing

• Create space to fill. Increase capacity. Create breathing room

  When the heart needs to heal and remodel, it requires decreased energy expenditure.

What healing and remodeling might happen if you decreased your own energy expenditure?