The American Heart Association (AHA) Heart Walk is scheduled for Saturday, October 18th at the Shreveport Festival Plaza Downtown. The event will start at 8:00 AM and the walk will begin at 9:30 AM.
The annual Walk for Your Heart is a great time to reflect on the importance of the contributions of the AHA to advocate for heart health and ultimately to our longevity. The AHA has been doing this for a very long time.
The American Heart Association has a hundred years plus one of promoting innovation and research in heart disease. Before the creation of the AHA by six doctors, there was little to no effective treatment for the country’s leading killer.
The AHA has been a leader and heavy supporter of innovation, research and education. The first AED pacemaker and CPR resulted from AHA research. Ten Nobel Prize winner heart researchers were directly funded by the AHA. The AHA made the public more aware of the importance of heart disease through the cardiac health issues of Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson.
The American Heart Association was an early pioneer in the attack on smoking – pointing out the dangers of smoking during a time when half of men and a third of women smoked. In 1977, the AHA declared smoking to be the most preventable cause of heart disease. From there, the AHA has been an early adopter of the importance of healthy eating and exercise in the very young to the elderly – in women as well as in men.
The AHA helps educate America about the foundation of health and longevity – what we eat and our activity levels. Though we don’t always do it, our non-compliance is not because we don’t know what we should do. The message of the AHA is everywhere.
More calories ingested than burned results in weight gain. Much of our difficulty putting this in practice today is due to the portions we eat. The kitchen cabinets in my daughter’s first house built in the 1950’s was not big enough to hold the plates she had received from her wedding shower. We’ve got bigger plates now, and we put too much on them.
We need to focus our grocery lists on the perimeter of the grocery store. Our obesity epidemic comes from too much money spent in the middle of the store where all the processed foods fill the shelves. The place to be is on the perimeter where fresh fruits, vegetables and meats are set out.
I heard one physician with expertise in preventive cardiology say he was convinced that sitting is the new smoking. The risk of a sedentary lifestyle is like that of smoking.
AHA research indicates that only about one in five adults and teens get enough exercise to maintain good health. We need to get moving and the simplest way to do that is to start walking. We add to these light weights to build strength and flexibility.
The AHA suggests we all do at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate intensity physical activity per week or 75 minutes of rigorous activity for the exercise “overachievers”. Moderate activity is brisk walking, biking, and gardening. Rigorous activity is running, swimming laps, and aerobic dancing.
Physical activity isn’t torture. We can break it up into short bouts of activity throughout the day. We can walk 5 minutes a few times a day. It adds up. The bottom line is to get out of the chair and do something.
So what is the gain of being active? How about a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension and Alzheimer’s? How about better sleep and improved memory and attention during the day? How about less obesity and the accompanying chronic health conditions? What about less depression, anxiety and better overall sense of well-being? The benefits of healthy eating and exercise are amazing.
See you at the AHA Heart Walk at the Shreveport Festival Plaza on October 18th. Come out and enjoy the physical activity with old and new friends while you show your support for an organization that has make a huge impact on our community, our nation and our world.
Dr. Phillip Rozeman is a practicing interventional cardiologist. He was recently awarded lifetime achievement awards from the Northwest Louisiana Medical Society and the Council for a Better Louisiana and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). He is an inductee in the JA Business Hall of Fame.