Did you know that every year, 1 in 4 deaths are caused by heart disease?
Cardiovascular disease, or heart disease, does not discriminate any age, gender, race or ethnicity, and decent, occurring with a wide variety of symptoms and types. The most common types include Coronary artery disease, High blood pressure, Cardiac arrest, Congestive heart failure, and more. The symptoms of these range from chest pains to irregular heart beats or palpitations, and sometimes there aren’t any symptoms, resulting in sudden death. Heart disease can increase your risk of getting other diseases and can impact your day-to-day life in many ways.
But you shouldn’t worry, heart disease can oftentimes be prevented. This can be done by making healthy choices and by managing health conditions. Some things you can do to decrease your risk of getting heart disease are: control your blood pressure, keep your cholesterol and triglyceride levels under control, try to maintain a healthy weight (dependent on your age as well as a few other factors), eat a healthy diet containing more nutrients and vitamins rather than salt and sugar (around 2,200 kcal a day), get regular exercise (at least 30 minutes), limit alcohol, don’t smoke, manage stress, manage diabetes, attend regular doctor appointments, and make sure that you get enough sleep at night.
February is Heart Health Month. Take advantage of the month and make sure that friends, family, peers, and community know about heart disease and are aware of ways to prevent it. Talk to people, you could potentially save a life.
How can you help spread the word?
Here are a few examples of what you can do:
- Add information about living a heart healthy lifestyle to your blog or newsletter.
- Post about American Heart Month onto media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and more.
- Ask your teachers or staff at school to make announcements about the month to raise awareness.
- Make sure your friends and family are updated, forward information to them.
- Wear/pass out red ribbons to help remind people of the month.
