With Valentines Day on Monday i’m sure most of you out there will be planning romantic gestures to your loved ones… But have you thought about your own heart?
Heart Disease is the UK’s biggest killer, with over 6 million people living with the condition! Causes can include other health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol levels and family history. Many other factors come into play such as smoking, excess body weight, age, gender and stress…
There are so many ways to reduce your risk of heart disease, so why not treat your heart to some TLC this Valentines…
- Assess your diet – Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and reduce your intake of salt and alcohol.
- Get moving – Physical activity 3x a week can halve your risk of heart disease.
- Watch your weight – Shedding a couple of lbs can massively reduce your risk.
- Quit smoking – If you have previously had a heart attack, giving up smoking can reduce your chances of having another attack by 25%!
- Have regular health checks – Make sure your BMI is at a healthy range, and if not, do something about it!
- Reduce your blood pressure – Exercising more and reducing calorie and alcohol intake can help lower your blood pressure.
- Control your cholesterol levels – Cut out trans and saturated fats and eat more oily fish and oats.
It’s not just our romantic fortunes that need looking after, we need to look after our physical hearts too…There are many ways to look after your heart and your loved ones… This Valentines give yourself the gift of a healthy heart <3
After reading today that a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO), Harvard and Imperial College London has estimated that half a billion people in the world are classed as obese, having a BMI of 30 or over, it made me think that its really time I started to focus on getting my health in tip-top condition!
The rise in obesity over the past 30 years has more than doubled, with the UK having the sixth highest rate in Europe! Is it any wonder, with a large proportion of children are eating fast-food on a regular basis and growing up in the front room on games consoles?
This is bad news for the globe as the raise in obesity goes hand-in-hand with the number of cases of diabetes…
Large measures are required to prevent the next generation suffering from health problems connected to obesity including diabetes, raised cholesterol and high blood pressure. I know Jamie Oliver went on his ‘healthy school dinners’ crusade last year, but has it made much of an impact yet (if any)? Last year my brothers school changed the sweet machine contents to healthy snacks such as nuts and fruit, but quickly changed it back when there was a declined in the amount on 50p’s entering the machine. Maybe we should follow the French’s example, with their average BMI been 25 (healthy)…
An interesting and worrying statistic, and it makes me wonder, what will happen if in another 30 years the rise in obesity has doubled again?
Just some food for thought, but I know certainly not be feeding my children Turkey Twizzlers…
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