Wise
Lifestyle Choices Curtail Cardiovascular Disease
February Is Heart
Awareness Month
There is no better
time for individuals to take their heart health into
their own hands than during February, which is Heart
Awareness Month.
"It's all about keeping
balance," says Dr. Ann Bolger at University of California San
Francisco and spokeswoman for the American Heart Association
(AHA). "It's the stuff we do on a daily basis that
is our downfall."
Heart disease claims
about 700,000 lives annually. And 61.8 million people have some
sort of cardiovascular problem, with1.1 million suffering
a heart attack each year, according to the AHA.
Cardiologists
Advise On Prevention
Don't Smoke:
"The number one controllable risk factor for cardiovascular
disease is cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoking,"
Dr. Bolger says. "It's an extraordinarily powerful risk factor."
Keep Moving:
"Regardless of your weight and other risk factors, people who
are active versus people who are not have a tremendous advantage
in terms of cardiovascular disease," Dr. Bolger says. "There's
no pill that's anywhere near as effective as exercise."
The best exercise
is the one that may be the easiest for most people, and that
is walking. It is simple and does not require expensive equipment
or a club membership.
Dr. Daniel Fisher,
at New York University School of Medicine, says government guidelines
recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise
on most, if not all, days of the week.
In general, Dr. Fisher
adds, "The more you do the better, and the higher intensity
the better."
But keep it in perspective
and discuss it with your physician first. "We're not going to
tell a 95-year-old to run the marathon," he says.
Any exercise you do
should give you energy and make you a little thirsty.
"Exercise is such
an equalizer," Dr. Bolger says. "It keeps the big swings
out of your blood pressure and out of your diet. It's a great
stress manager and you'll sleep better. And if you sleep better,
your blood pressure is in better control."
Eat a Healthful
Diet: "Obesity and being overweight in America is now
an epidemic," Dr. Fisher says. "Controlling your weight is unbelievably
important. As weight goes up, so does the risk of high blood
pressure."
In general, fat should
make up 25 percent to 30 percent of total calories, but you
also need to pay attention to the proportion of saturated fats,
polyunsaturated fats, and monounsaturated fats you are consuming.
Protein should represent
about 15 percent of calories, says Dr. Fisher.
And carbohydrates
- from complex whole grains, fruits, and vegetables - should
account for the rest of calorie consumption. You also want pay
attention to portion size.
"If that stuffed mushroom
has lots of cheese or sausage in it, have one and eat it slowly
and love it but don't have two," Dr. Fisher says.
Counter fatty foods
with raw vegetables or fruit. This, in turn, can offset the
risk of sudden heart attacks, which have a greater chance of
occurring when there is a swift surge of fat in the blood.
Follow high-salt foods
with a glass of water, which will also help fill you up. And
if you fall off the wagon, do not dig a deeper hole by
launching a gastronomic free-for-all. Just refocus and move
on.
"Just because you
made a bad choice doesn't mean that the next one can't be good,"
Dr. Bolger says.
Know Your
Vital Statistics: This means your blood pressure and
your cholesterol levels.
"As your blood pressure
increases, so does the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke,"
Dr. Fisher says.
Healthy adults need
to stay under 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), and according
to new guidelines from the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute (NHLBI), even a reading of over 120/80
mm Hg could be an early warning.
"The higher risk you
are, the more aggressive you should be with any of these things,"
Dr. Fisher adds.
And make sure your physician
tells you what your numbers are.
"Your doctor should
write your blood pressure down as you leave," Dr. Fisher says.
"If they don't tell you, you should ask."
As for cholesterol
levels, if your total cholesterol is less than 200 mg/dL, your
heart attack risk is relatively low, unless you have other risk
factors. People whose cholesterol level is from 200 to 239 mg/dL
are borderline high risk.
Get Support:
To get on the path to heart health, enlist the aid of your friends,
your physician, or even your dog (if it will persuade you
to go for a walk).
"Look for sources
of support during high-stress times," Dr. Bolger advises. "Your
friends are facing the same issues. Walk with them, talk to
them. Just talking about something in advance can help you."
Also, consult your
physician.
"You should be speaking
with your doctor even if you're young, in your twenties," Dr.
Fisher says. "Have your complete cholesterol panel drawn. If
you're young you don't have to do it often, but you should do
it."
Always consult your
physician for more information.
Online
Resources
(Our Organization
is not responsible for the content of Internet sites.)
American
College of Sports Medicine
American
Heart Association
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
HealthierUS.Gov
National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
National
Institutes of Health (NIH)
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February 2004
Wise
Lifestyle Choices Curtail Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiologists
Advise On Prevention
Heart
Disease Statistics
What
Is Blood Pressure?
Online
Resources
Heart
Disease Statistics
Each year, heart disease
is at the top of the list of the country's most serious health
problems.
Consider the most
recent statistics released by the American Heart Association
(AHA):
-
At least 61million people
in this country suffer from some form of heart disease.
-
Cardiovascular disease is
the cause of more deaths than the next seven causes of
death combined.
-
Rheumatic heart disease /
rheumatic fever kills almost 3,600 Americans each year.
-
More than 2,600 Americans
die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of
one death every 33 seconds.
-
It is a myth that heart disease
is a man's disease. In fact, cardiovascular diseases are
the number one killer of women (and men). These diseases
currently claim the lives of more than a half a million
females every year.
-
Stroke is a leading cause
of serious, long-term disability that accounts for more
than half of all patients hospitalized for a neurological
disease. Stroke deaths have been increasing in recent
years.
Always consult your
physician for more information.
What
Is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is
the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls. Each
time the heart beats, it pumps blood into the arteries, resulting
in the highest blood pressure as the heart contracts.
An individual needs
an electronic blood pressure monitoring device to take his or
her own blood pressure. Electronic blood pressure monitors may
also measure the heart rate, or pulse.
Two numbers are recorded
when measuring blood pressure. The higher number, or systolic
pressure, refers to the pressure inside the artery when the
heart contracts and pumps blood through the body. The lower
number, or diastolic pressure, refers to the pressure inside
the artery when the heart is at rest and is filling with blood.
Both the systolic
and diastolic pressures are recorded as "mm Hg" (millimeters
of mercury). This recording represents how high the mercury
column is raised by the pressure of the blood.
High blood pressure,
or hypertension, directly increases the risk of coronary heart
disease (heart attack) and stroke (brain attack). With high
blood pressure, the arteries may have an increased resistance
against the flow of blood, causing the heart to pump harder
to circulate the blood.
According to the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), high blood
pressure for adults is defined as:
-
140 mm Hg or greater systolic
pressure
and
-
90 mm Hg or greater diastolic
pressure
In an update of NHLBI
guidelines for hypertension in 2003, a new blood pressure category
was added called prehypertension:
-
120 mm Hg – 139 mm
Hg systolic pressure
and
-
80 mm Hg – 89 mm Hg
diastolic pressure
The new NHLBI
guidelines now define normal blood pressure as follows:
-
Less than 120 mm Hg systolic
pressure
and
-
Less than 80 mm Hg diastolic
pressure
These numbers should
be used as a guide only. A single elevated blood pressure measurement
is not necessarily an indication of a problem.
Your physician will
want to see multiple blood pressure measurements over several
days or weeks before making a diagnosis of hypertension (high
blood pressure) and initiating treatment.
Always consult your
physician for more information.
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