BY OLIVIA SPIRITO
February is not just about Valentine’s Day, but is American Heart Month! Dedicate yourself this year to a healthy happy lifestyle that you can share with your loved ones all the months of the year.
WiRED’s Health Learning Center provides many free modules to help educate the public about heart health and disease. The WiRED e-library contains a series of topics including heart diseases, echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease (RHD), RHD training, heartburn, hypertension and normal and abnormal heart sounds in children. WiRED also provides an RHD animation and a series on anatomy, which educate the public about the heart and circulatory system. Many modules can be found in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic.
Heart disease occurs when conditions affect the heart and blood vessels and cause cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the world’s deadliest killer, according to the World Heart Federation. It affects one out of every 10 people between 30 and 70 years of age.
A healthy lifestyle starts with eating a balanced diet. The American Heart Association recommends eating a variety of foods representing the colors of the rainbow, such as apples, carrots and squash. Also, being active every day will be beneficial to heart health. As part of a healthy lifestyle, practicing mindfulness, relaxation techniques like yoga and getting sufficient sleep can reduce heart disease. Lastly, refraining from unhealthy behaviors like smoking tobacco and abusing drugs and alcohol can aid in heart health. Adopting these various suggestions can help you maintain a healthy weight, body mass index, cholesterol and organ health.
Your cardiovascular health depends on a healthy routine that starts with just a few small changes. WiRED hopes you put your heart health first all year long.