Learn the Heart
Olivia Fernandez (7)
What is American Heart Month?
American heart month is a month to take in and look into the importance of your heart health. Adding healthy routines to your lifestyle. Who created American Heart Month?
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first proclamation declaring February American Heart Month. Each year, this is time to spotlight heart disease, by bringing awareness and sharing how to take steps to prevent this deadly disease.
The AHA (American Heart Association) has grown to be the nation’s largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease. The AHA has 35 million volunteers and supporters as well as more than 2,900 employees. In 2021 over 694 million dollars were donated to the AHA. Each donation that is made helps them fund lifesaving research and improve patient care, and work for equitable health for all people. It is estimated that more than 120 million Americans living with a cardiovascular condition have been treated with the newest groundbreaking research while expanding access to affordable healthcare.
Why is Heart Health Important?
Heart disease affects about 18.2 million Americans age 20 and older. About 695,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year. The leading cause for heart disease is due to high blood pressure. It can also come from physical inactivity, diabetes and smoking. Heart disease is not the only danger. If you don’t take care of your heart you could suffer a heart attack. Heart attacks happen when you don’t take care of yourself and your blood has trouble moving through your arteries, and gets blocked.
It can even lead to death if your heart stops pumping. Heart health is so important because your heart pumps your blood throughout your entire body. If you don’t keep your heart healthy you could suffer the consequences. Your heart health determines your overall health. So if you have an unhealthy heart and you have an unhealthy routine you have higher chances of having a heart attack at a young age. But if you have a healthy heart and a healthy routine then you lower the chances of getting a heart attack ,while improving your overall health! By having a healthy heart you get to live a healthy life which means you could enjoy life without worrying about getting heart related diseases.
How to Keep Your Heart Healthy!
Even though there are many dangers. There are ways to keep you- heart attack, heart disease free! First and a very common way to keep your heart healthy is to eat healthy! A healthy diet equals a healthy heart, a healthy heart equals a healthy life! There are 3 main foods to stay away from. Foods with added salt, refined carbohydrates, processed meats. But even though they aren’t the best foods, does not mean you can’t have some.
Some of these foods can be eaten but monitor how much of them you eat. Eating chips 10 times a day isn’t the best for monitoring your diet. But having chips a small amount of time throughout the week is a healthy way to monitor yourself.
But a healthy diet isn’t the only way to keep your heart healthy. Exercise and keeping active is a great way to keep your body moving! Taking walks and even going for a jog benefits you greatly. You can exercise by doing stuff you love. For example tennis, football, soccer and any other sport you enjoy can keep you active! Believe it or not when you stay up at night on your phone or looking at tv you’re causing harm to your body.
Poor sleep can also lead to unhealthy habits that can hurt your heart. Including higher stress levels, less motivation to be physically active and low energy. So next time you think about staying up late, think about the consequences it will have on your body. So with the month here show some support and love by wearing red for American Heart Month!