Cosmo’s Corner: Heart health at the Library

Meow, hello and bonjour! It’s your friend, Cosmo the Library Cat. As you may be aware, Valentine’s Day is coming up and that means you’re probably seeing lots of pink and red hearts wherever you go. You might even be munching on a heart-shaped candy as you read this. 

The pink and red decorations that you see around Valentine’s Day don’t look anything like a real heart, the kind that pumps blood through your body and keeps you alive. But seeing all these hearts around got me thinking about how there’s never a bad time to show some love to our own hearts, especially for humans. (We cats rarely have heart attacks. This allows us to save all our attacks for the hands of anyone who dares touch our soft underbellies.)  

The Grand County Public Library can help you get started on a new heart-care regimen. First, check out our latest addition to the library collection: blood pressure monitor kits. These kits have everything you need to monitor blood pressure at home and you can check them out just like a book or a movie, available for two weeks at a time. 

Then take a peek at our new book display featuring books about heart-healthy diets, fitness, and other ways to take care of your heart. “The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up” is full of information about assessing your heart health and advice about eating, exercising, and managing stress in heart-healthy ways. “A Year in the Village of Eternity” features recipes from a mountain village in Italy whose inhabitants lead very long lives, and stay healthy and active into their 80s.  

These are just a sampling of the books about taking care of your heart that can be found at the library. If you search the words “heart healthy” or “exercise” in our online catalog at www.catalog.moablibrary.org, you will find lots more materials to help keep you healthy.

I won’t be using the blood pressure kit, as my resting heart rate of 150 beats per minute overloads the poor machine’s little circuits—it’s calibrated to humans, not cats—and the cuff leaves my fur matted and unsightly. It takes hours of grooming to restore it to its full luster. However, just seeing the display has inspired me to get a little extra exercise each day, and I can tell you it really makes my naps all the more rewarding. Sometimes little changes can make a big difference. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!