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Heart matters: Association encourages awareness during National Heart Month
By Elizabeth Knighten, eknighten@acnpapers.com
February is recognized as National Heart Month.
The American Heart Association is reaching out to the public during February, beginning with the Ninth Annual National Wear Red Day today to raise awareness on heart disease, but more specifically, heart disease among women.
Claire Kinzy, communications director for the American Heart Association said one in three women will die from heart disease, while one in 31 will die from breast cancer.
Kinzy said heart disease is complicated because anyone could be at risk, not just those who are overweight or obese, but people with high blood pressure and high triglycerides.
"Heart disease tends to be a silent killer, you can feel fine and you can look fine and you might not be," Kinzy said.
Kinzy added that heart disease is the "number one killer of women over the age of 20," and adults are not the only people susceptible to the disease, children are also becoming more exposed due to increased obesity rates.
"What we are now seeing is in children, and this is the most staggering part of it, we are seeing so many adult cardiovascular conditions start developing in children that are obese because there are over a third of our children that are obese or overweight," Kinzy said. "Obese, overweight children tend to come from families that are obese or overweight ... with children we're seeing a greater onset of adult type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure."
Eighty percent of cardiovascular disease is preventable simply by changing daily activities.
"There are certain genetic factors that kind of make up that other 20 percent ... when you're born with a congenital heart defect, there are just some things that you're never going to be able to change," she said. "Eighty percent of the heart disease that's preventable, it really is lifestyle changes and it starts with -- I can't repeat this enough -- knowing your numbers, not waiting until it's too late. One of the biggest things people can do to reduce their risk is physical activity and it's something as low as ... 30 minutes of brisk walking a day is all you need to reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease."
Kinzy said walking doesn't have to be done all at one time; it can be spread throughout the day.
"It's all about getting up and getting your blood pumping and it's especially important now because we lead increasingly sedentary lives," Kinzy said.
According to a release from the AHA, risk factors for heart disease that can be controlled include: high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, physical activity, obesity and being overweight and diabetes.
Kinzy stressed that "smoking is one of the leading contributors to heart disease."
"When you talk about the preventable factor, it really is a lot of lifestyle. What you put in your body, what you eat is huge, how much you exercise, whether or not you smoke and those are the behavioral things you can control," Kinzy said.
Kinzy said, while women cannot control their family history of high blood pressure or other risk factors, they control their physical activity, diet and visit a physician to decrease their chance of heart disease.
The AHA release also said, "only slightly more than half of women are likely to call 911 if experiencing symptoms [of a heart attack]. And yet, 79 percent of women said that they would call 911 if someone else was having a heart attack."
"We're getting to where it's really important for women to be a little selfish -- don't stop thinking about everybody else -- but, we have got to get into the mindset that it's extremely important to take care of ourselves just as much as it is to be concerned and take care of others," Kinzy said.
The American Heart Association will host various events throughout the DFW metroplex to raise awareness including the Go Red for Women Luncheon at the University of North Texas Gateway Center on Feb. 10 in Denton.
For information, go to www.heart.org.
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