Health and Wellbeing: Becoming heart health aware awareness

ACCORDING to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year.

More than four out of five CVD deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes and one third of these deaths occur prematurely in people under 70 years of age.

This is just a figure in a statistic report until the person who has a massive heart attack or a stroke is a father or a mother, a husband or a wife, a sister or a brother, a son or a daughter, a best friend or a life partner who leaves us too early and in most of the cases something could’ve been done in order to prevent the death if we were more aware.

The most important behavioural risk factors of heart disease and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol and stress.

Let’s look at what we can actually do in order to keep our heart healthy.

1. What we eat, can either poison our heart bit by bit every day or protect our heart and make it stronger.

We all know that a healthy and balanced diet is a key ingredient of a healthy life. But where should we start and how do we know that our diet is bad or not? Like with everything else in life, realisation is the key. The best starting point is to start a log book of what you put in your body for a period of 3-4 days, including one of the weekend days. Then, in order to have a standard to compare our diet with, we have the Irish food pyramid.

Plenty of vegetables, greens and wholegrains. The Irish food pyramid states 5 servings per day. If you are looking to fill your body with the right fuel and want to focus on eating for supporting your body, you won’t have much space left for unhealthy foods and drinks.

A personalised meal plan is essential and offers you the guarantee that you eat based on your body’s needs. You can work with a nutritionist, a nutrition health coach or a wellbeing coach to help you to build the best meal plan using a bio-individual approach. Most of the time, they are qualified, knowledgeable and work together with your medical care specialist to support your health.

2. Keep yourself physically active

Like with your diet, you won’t know how active you are until you start measuring your physical daily activity for 6-7 days. Wearing a smart watch to measure your steps or keeping a logbook for your daily physical activities would be two great ways to start.

Realising where you are with your physical activity will give you a better chance of implementing sustainable changes. If you are a very static person, for example, and you start suddenly to add too much in one go when it comes to physical activity, your body and brain will get easily overwhelmed and you will give up before you realise it. Small steps, consistency and working with someone like a fitness coach or a health coach who can hold you accountable are great tips for becoming successful.

3.Reduce alcohol consumption and quit smoking

Reducing alcohol consumption to one glass per week or not consuming alcohol at all is the best way to keep your heart healthy. If it sounds impossible for you, you might benefit from asking for support. Discuss with your GP or find a health coach or a nutritionist that can help you by keeping you motivated and holding that safe space for you to support your journey. It is possible and there is plenty of support.

HSE has a great national programme when it comes to quitting smoking. Access www.2.hse.ie for the quit smoking programme and find the service near you. This is a free tool, and it definitely can support and impact your life in a positive way.

4. Managing stress

The best way of managing stress is to look at the stress factors in your life and start addressing them. A simple technique is a deep belly breathing exercise to provide your brain with enough oxygen to bring your heart from a state of fight and flight response to a state of coherence and calm.

If you get overwhelmed or become resistant, don’t give up. Ask for help from a wellbeing specialist or a mental health care provider (psychotherapist, counsellor, CBT practitioner, etc). The most important thing is to start. Small steps are better than no steps. And even a simple act of finding your personal heart health risk by becoming aware of your family heart health history is a great starting point.