Each year the month of February is recognized as Heart Month, with tens of thousands of people across Canada putting their hearts into making a difference through support for the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation (www.heartandstroke.com). I felt it important to dedicate this blog to heart health, in an effort to help reduce the many unexpected deaths that heart disease brings.
The purpose of Heart Month is to raise awareness through education and prevention of diseases related to the heart. The Heart & Stroke Foundation believes that many Canadians are being ignorant and negligent about their food and life style choices, which increases their risk of developing heart disease. If you visit the foundation’s website you will find an enormous amount of valuable information. But the thing that stood out for me the most is the vast impact this organization makes – from repairing a newborn heart in its first moments of life to saving a woman's life from a deadly heart defect, to helping a parent recover from a disabling stroke or stopping cardiac arrest from taking its next life.
As caregivers in the home we may not have the high-tech equipment to monitor the internal workings of the heart and its affect on the body. So we need to be aware of the warning signs and listen to what the body is telling us. Human bodies are just like well oiled machines. With regular maintenance and good care they can run for many years and many miles. Our body requires dedication to maintenance and care, just like a well-tuned car. The reality is, if we don’t take care of our body, it won’t take care of us. I certainly am not telling you anything you haven’t heard before, but I do think it’s worth repeating.
I remember the first time I experienced the black hole of a heart disease. I was a fairly new nurse working a shift in ICU, when in came a 28-year-old woman admitted with chest pain. The medical staff initially cast a professional judgment that it must be stress or a panic attack, saying, “We see this all the time – young, hard working, highly stressed females trying to climb the corporate latter.” But we sure were surprised when the medically confirmed diagnosis came back: myocardial infarction or, commonly, “MI.” It changed my outlook on heart disease forever.
In my opinion, if we adopt some simple life style choices we can make a difference that can positively impact our health. By managing some of the most common and deadly cardiovascular risk factors we can change our path from destruction to construction. We cannot ignore the fact that we are what we eat and our level of physical activity can make or break us. An alarming study exposed that passivity and obesity can take almost four years off one's lifespan, high blood pressure two-and-a-half years and a eating low amount of fruits and vegetables just over one year. We become increasingly vulnerable to heart disease by living an unhealthy life at any age.
There are some simple lifestyle practices that could benefit your heart and prolong your life: staying active and exercising, managing stress, getting enough sleep, not smoking, minimizing alcohol consumption and eating healthy food. By incorporating the four food groups from the Canada Food Guide into your menu and including some physical activity into your everyday routine, you or your loved one might just avoid a serious heart problem.
Listen to your body and be aware of these warning signs for heart attack and stroke:
Pain – sudden discomfort or pain that doesn’t go away
Shortness of breath – difficulty breathing or not speaking in full sentences
Nausea – sick feeling in your stomach or vomiting
Sweating – wet, cool or clammy skin
Fear – anxiety, denial or knowing something is wrong
The cliché “an ounce of prevention” rings true now more than ever. We rely on our heart every day and every beat, yet we often take it for granted and neglect how we care for it. So take control of your health and start today on your journey to good health. Don’t wait until you get a warning sign or are hit with a devastating diagnosis.
The purpose of Heart Month is to raise awareness through education and prevention of diseases related to the heart. The Heart & Stroke Foundation believes that many Canadians are being ignorant and negligent about their food and life style choices, which increases their risk of developing heart disease. If you visit the foundation’s website you will find an enormous amount of valuable information. But the thing that stood out for me the most is the vast impact this organization makes – from repairing a newborn heart in its first moments of life to saving a woman's life from a deadly heart defect, to helping a parent recover from a disabling stroke or stopping cardiac arrest from taking its next life.
As caregivers in the home we may not have the high-tech equipment to monitor the internal workings of the heart and its affect on the body. So we need to be aware of the warning signs and listen to what the body is telling us. Human bodies are just like well oiled machines. With regular maintenance and good care they can run for many years and many miles. Our body requires dedication to maintenance and care, just like a well-tuned car. The reality is, if we don’t take care of our body, it won’t take care of us. I certainly am not telling you anything you haven’t heard before, but I do think it’s worth repeating.
I remember the first time I experienced the black hole of a heart disease. I was a fairly new nurse working a shift in ICU, when in came a 28-year-old woman admitted with chest pain. The medical staff initially cast a professional judgment that it must be stress or a panic attack, saying, “We see this all the time – young, hard working, highly stressed females trying to climb the corporate latter.” But we sure were surprised when the medically confirmed diagnosis came back: myocardial infarction or, commonly, “MI.” It changed my outlook on heart disease forever.
In my opinion, if we adopt some simple life style choices we can make a difference that can positively impact our health. By managing some of the most common and deadly cardiovascular risk factors we can change our path from destruction to construction. We cannot ignore the fact that we are what we eat and our level of physical activity can make or break us. An alarming study exposed that passivity and obesity can take almost four years off one's lifespan, high blood pressure two-and-a-half years and a eating low amount of fruits and vegetables just over one year. We become increasingly vulnerable to heart disease by living an unhealthy life at any age.
There are some simple lifestyle practices that could benefit your heart and prolong your life: staying active and exercising, managing stress, getting enough sleep, not smoking, minimizing alcohol consumption and eating healthy food. By incorporating the four food groups from the Canada Food Guide into your menu and including some physical activity into your everyday routine, you or your loved one might just avoid a serious heart problem.
Listen to your body and be aware of these warning signs for heart attack and stroke:
Pain – sudden discomfort or pain that doesn’t go away
Shortness of breath – difficulty breathing or not speaking in full sentences
Nausea – sick feeling in your stomach or vomiting
Sweating – wet, cool or clammy skin
Fear – anxiety, denial or knowing something is wrong
The cliché “an ounce of prevention” rings true now more than ever. We rely on our heart every day and every beat, yet we often take it for granted and neglect how we care for it. So take control of your health and start today on your journey to good health. Don’t wait until you get a warning sign or are hit with a devastating diagnosis.
No comments:
Post a Comment