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Tuscola County Health Department Kicks off Healthy Hearts Month
As part of the 2007 Public Health Marketing Campaign, “Public Health – For Michigan. For You,” a different public health issue is being promoted each month. February is designated as Healthy Hearts Month – What You Can Do To Keep Your Heart Healthy and Lessen Your Risk For Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). Heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer in Michigan. In fact, CVD has been the number one cause of death nationally every year since 1900, except in 1918 – the year of the devastating flu epidemic. In 2004, heart disease and stroke killed 30,086 Michiganders. Four out of every 10 deaths in Michigan is due to CVD. Your actions today can help prevent, delay, or minimize the effects of heart disease. The key strategy is controlling your risk factors. Here are steps people can take to lower their risk for heart disease and heart attack: Prevent and Control High Blood Cholesterol High blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease. Preventing and treating high blood cholesterol includes eating a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol and high in fiber, keeping a healthy weight, and getting regular exercise. All adults should have their cholesterol levels checked once every five years. If yours is high, your doctor may prescribe medicines to help lower it. Prevent and Control High Blood Pressure Healthy lifestyle behaviors such as regular physical activity, a healthy diet, not smoking, and a healthy weight will help you maintain normal blood pressure levels. In addition, all adults should have their blood pressure checked on a regular basis. Blood pressure is easily checked. If your blood pressure is high, you can work with your doctor to treat it and bring it down to the normal range. A high blood pressure can usually be controlled with lifestyle changes and with medicines when needed. People with diabetes have an increased risk of heart disease. People with heart disease can take steps to reduce their risk for diabetes in the first place, through weight loss and regular physical activity. No Tobacco Smoking increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Never smoking is one of the best things a person can do to lower their risk. Quitting smoking will also help lower a person’s risk of heart disease. A person’s risk of heart attack decreases soon after quitting. Moderate Alcohol Use Excessive alcohol use increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke. People who drink alcohol should do so only in moderation and always responsibly. Healthy weight status in adults is usually assessed by using weight and height to compute a number called the “body mass index” (BMI). BMI usually indicates the amount of body fat. An adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. Overweight is a BMI between 25 and 29.9. Normal weight is a BMI of 18 to 24.9. Proper diet and regular physical activity can help to maintain a healthy weight. To compute your BMI, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/adult_BMI/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.htm Adults should engage in moderate physical activity for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week. Along with healthy weight and regular physical activity, an overall healthy diet can help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. This includes eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lowering or cutting out added salt or sodium, and eating less saturated fat and cholesterol to lower these risks. For more information about keeping your heart healthy, please contact the Tuscola County Health Department, www.michigan.gov/cvh, www.americanheart.org, www.cdc.gov/heartdisease, or www.nhlbi.org. |
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