Working with others, dealing with the public, stretching dollars, robbing Peter to pay Paul and just getting up every morning to start all over again…it affects you after a while. If you’ve been experiencing more headaches than usual, if your blood pressure has been creeping upward, if you have digestive issues, there may be a cause your doctor isn’t looking for—burnout! The physical toll of managing a small business is one area we tend to ignore. After all, we can’t do anything about it…or can we? Perhaps it’s time to find out.

The American Psychological Association suggests these early warnings are just the tip of the iceberg. Burnout increases a business owner’s chance of developing a myocardial infarction (heart attack), ischemic heart disease (heart attack), sudden myocardial death (heart attack), and stroke (not heart attack, lol). Yes, I’m as serious as a heart attack. Sorry. Couldn’t resist that one. This is a serious matter. A study from Tel Aviv suggests low cortisol levels from stressed business owners may increase the body’s inflammatory response, triggering issues of heart disease.

The more alarming aspect of the study by Dr. Samuel Melamed is the suggestion that a focus on increasing coping skills by itself is not enough to reverse the cycle of damage. Inflammatory responses must be addressed as well. “Indeed, the complicated nature of burnout calls for multidisciplinary interventions addressing organizational, behavioral, psychological and physiological factors.” Boiling that down to plain talk, deal with it on several different levels.

So just how do we turn around the heart-related issues of our stressful lives? An exhaustive review of the literature by The National Library of Medicine took many of the cohort studies and extrapolated the data to two very important non-psychotropic remedies individuals can employ. One was physical exercise. Yes, a little sweat goes a long way toward lowering the harmful effects of burnout. Studies show it increases mental acuity, better sleep, more energy and stronger resilience when stressors come your way. What’s more, you don’t have to join a gym or dedicate an hour a day to cycling. Think of activity as a lifestyle, not a to-do item on an already too long list. It’s a lot easier than you think:

• Take 5 or 10 minute breaks and move around. Touch your toes ten times and get back to work.

• Park at the far end of a parking lot and walk.

• Just three 10-minute sessions equal a half hour of exercise, and that’s your goal.

• Thirty minutes of exercise five days a week is your immediate target.

• Take the steps once in a while.

The second suggestion to reduce stress and thus lower incidence of heart disease was a better diet. We’re not talking fanaticism here. Just include more leafy green vegetables one day. Lower your red meat another day. Let dessert pass you by if it’s not your favorite. Take baby steps. Do the easy things. Here’s what we do know: changing your lifestyle is more important than a wild vow followed by strict adherence for a week, subsequently quitting when it becomes impossible.

We all know we should eat better and exercise, so this isn’t rocket science. What we fail to realize, however, is that these aren’t just suggestions. They are mandates for small business owners who want to live to see enjoy their grandchildren. So do the easy things.