Heart
Awareness Month
September is a wonderful time in South Africa
as we welcome spring and all that it brings – warmer days, hope and life! Not
surprising then that September is also Heart Awareness Month in SA, a time not
only to celebrate the resurrection of nature, but also a time to celebrate the
pulse of life, our hearts.
World Heart Day also falls in September, on the 29th of the month. The day informs people around the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.1 million lives each year. Together with the World Heart Federation, we at the Heart and Stroke Foundation SA (HSF) aim to spread the news that at least 80% of premature (under the age of 60 years) deaths from heart disease and stroke could be avoided if the main risk factors, tobacco, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity, are controlled. This year, World Heart Day will be celebrated with the theme ’One World, One Home, One Heart’, with a particular focus in 2012 on CVD prevention among women and children.
South Africans are at risk just as the rest of the world is. We have the data to prove that we are getting heavier, our blood pressures are rising, we are eating more junk food, and more of our children are taking up smoking and tobacco use for the sake of ‘fashion’ and peer pressure.
Health is easy to dismiss as something to work on when you get the time. That is, until your health fails you. Many of us don’t see ourselves at risk, but even you could be living with a ticking time bomb.
So does your heart, and the hearts of your family, make the grade? Check the numbers!
What numbers? That would be your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and body mass index levels. Knowing these vital statistics could be the early warning signs you need, to show if your health is at risk. High levels can indicate that you are at risk for developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers.
Screening Events
