Open heart surgery recovery can be a slow and arduous process. Although recovery times have a lot to do with age, general health, and a host of other factors, there are things you can do to speed the recovery process.
Staying positive, entertained, and engaged is the most important thing heart patients can do. Although it is hard to quantify happiness and relate that back to recovery times, most doctors will agree that staying happy can dramatically shorten recovery times and decrease the risk of complications. Patients who get more time with their families recover faster. Inversely, patients who suffer from depression may recover only 66% as quickly as their non-depressed peers.
You should also make sure to eat healthy foods while in recovery. Surgery depletes your body. You are not going to get those vital nutrients back if you neglect to eat healthy. Make plans for eating healthy before your surgery. You don’t want to find yourself ordering food while you coalesce because that may tempt you into eating junk foods.
Lastly, don’t rush yourself. Many surgical complications occur when people resume their normal routine before their body is ready. Complications mean more time in bed so take all the time you need and recover fully the first time.


Last year prescription drug overdoses overtook car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in America. The main culprits are opiate painkillers (Vicodin, OxyContin, morphine) and benzodiazepines (Xanax, Ativan). The media buzz surrounding America’s drug problem has led many people to be wary of doctors. There are really two sides to this problem, millions of Americans addicted to prescription drugs and millions of patients unable or unwilling to take necessary pain medication.








