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‘How young is your heart?’
By Alexia Saoulli
(archive article - Tuesday, September 26, 2006)
Heart foundation campaign promotes healthier lifestyle
HEART FOUNDATIONS across the globe last week campaigned to raise awareness why choosing a healthy diet, being physically active and not smoking can prevent heart attacks and stroke, and may help the heart to age more slowly.
In the run up to Sunday’s World Heart Day, under the theme “How Young is Your Heart?”, people were encouraged to adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle to help maintain a young heart for life.
In Cyprus the American Heart Institute [AHI] in co-operation with the Cyprus Heart Foundation organised a series of activities.
AHI administrative manager Panos Ergatoudes told the Cyprus Mail the week’s events had included a lecture on anti-coagulation of the blood on Wednesday, a two hour blood donation on Thursday, and a children’s painting competition and five kilometre race on Saturday in which doctors, patients’ relatives and UNFICYP personnel participated. Those people not wishing to run were able to take a ‘fun walk’ through Ledra and Onasagorou streets.
“Seventy people took part in the race which can be called a success due to the rains we had to endure that day,” he said.
Everyone who participated received a T-shirt with a ‘how young is your heart?’ message, he said.
Ergatoudes said the main purpose of week’s activities was to promote adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle to help maintain a young heart for life, concentrating mostly on the importance of physical activity.
“The message we wanted to give was to take up a sport and make it part of your life,” he said.
“Another message is that parents should choose a sport and encourage their children to participate.”
The AHI administrative manager said team sports were a good idea because it allowed children to make friends with out children and then hopefully encouraged them to keep up the sport throughout their lives, such as playing basketball, football or tennis.
According to the World Heart Day website physical inactivity contributes significantly to ageing the heart, as it can lead to overweight and obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
It said the heart was a muscle in need of regular exercise if it was to continue pumping blood efficiently and that regular activity would help slow down the narrowing of the arteries to the heart and brain, encourage the body to use up excess stored fat therefore helping in weight loss and fighting obesity, improve cholesterol levels by increasing the level of good cholesterol (HDL) in the blood, maintain normal blood glucose levels therefore managing diabetes, and reduce high blood pressure.
“Being active also improves your overall health, gives you more energy, reduces stress, builds stronger bones and muscles, and improves balance, strength and mobility”, it said.
For overall good health the website suggested including aerobic and strengthening activities such as brisk walking, swimming, cycling and gardening, climbing stairs, and stretching exercises such as T’ai Chi and yoga.
It said: “Start exercising slowly and increase the time, intensity (high breathing rate but still able to speak) and frequency of activity as your heart gets stronger. For adults, at least 30 minutes of exercise a day and for children 60 minutes a day will help reduce risk factors.
Although physical activity is perfectly safe for most people, sometimes it’s important to ask for a doctor’s or health professional’s OK before you exercise.”
It goes without saying that to help maintain a young heart for life, calories consumed must be balanced with calories burned. The World Heart Day recommends combining exercise with a balanced diet including plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, lean meat, fish and pulses, as well as low-fat and fat-free products, unsaturated soft margarines and oils such as sunflower, corn, rape-seed and olive oil.
Quitting using any form of tobacco is another important risk factor to help keep the heart young as it lowers blood cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and reduces blood clotting and the chance of a sudden blockage of an artery.
Finally a big part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle depends on knowing how to keep yourself motivated along the way, including setting achievable goals, keeping track of your progress, developing a support system, and avoiding perfectionism.
“If you miss taking some exercise, succumb to your tobacco cravings, or eat an unhealthy meal, just get back on track immediately with more determination to establish a heart-healthy lifestyle,” it said.
World Heart Day, organised by the World Heart Federation (WHF) and its members and co-sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNESCO and Sport for Development and Peace, is the WHF’s most important advocacy event and aims to increase public awareness and promote preventive measures to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Begun in 1999 with the vision that all WHF members could collectively help to curb the global pandemic of cardiovascular disease, which claims some 17 million lives worldwide annually, World Heart Day is now celebrated by members and non-members alike in more than 100 countries around the world. |
