Possted Mar 1, 2011
The Illinois Department of Public Health is urging men and women to banish the nation’s top killer from their lives. Taking the proper preventive steps and instituting heart-healthy habits can save lives, public health officials said.
“To help prevent heart disease, everyone needs to eat a heart-healthy diet, exercise, quit smoking and control other health conditions such as diabetes,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Damon T. Arnold said in a news release. “Together, we can help promote heart disease awareness and heart-healthy living.”
Among the changes that can help reduce one’s risk of heart disease are quitting smoking, increasing physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, monitoring blood pressure, reducing stress, limiting alcohol and caffeine consumption and eating a balanced diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats and cholesterol.
In 2007, more than 12,700 men and 13,000 women in Illinois died because of heart disease, according to the Department of Public Health. In 2009, more than 213,000 men and 146,000 women were told they had had heart attacks.
“Although sometimes thought of as only a ‘man’s disease,’ women account for nearly 50 percent of all heart disease deaths according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” the department said.
The department’s Office of Women’s Health administers the Women Out Walking program to help Illinois women learn about positive lifestyle and exercise changes.
For more information about cardiovascular disease, go online to www.idph.state.il.us/heartstroke/index.htm.
agetsinger@herald-review.com 421-6968
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