How many times in your life have you stopped, looked at the life choices you were making and thought, “I need to do better.” Maybe you thought you should change your diet, exercise more, stop smoking or be more careful about blood pressure or cholesterol.
Research shows those who can reach cardiovascular wellness goals by age 50 can expect to live another 40 years free from heart disease and stroke. What are those wellness goals? Let’s take a look at Life’s Simple Seven, developed by the American Heart Association.
Managing Blood Pressure.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the single most significant risk factor for heart disease. It’s sometimes called “the silent killer” because it has no symptoms. One in three American adults has high blood pressure, yet about 21% don’t even know they have it. Of those with high blood pressure, 69% are receiving treatment, but only 45% have their blood pressure controlled.
Get Active.
The evidence is clear: people who exercise have better health than those who do not. A recent American Heart Association survey shows that fewer than two out of every ten Americans get the recommended 150 minutes or more of moderate physical activity each week.
Eat Better.
Eating for good health means choosing lots of fruits and vegetables, whole-grain carbohydrates, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. You might have to train yourself to avoid foods and drinks with high sodium or added sugar. Another perhaps surprising part of healthy eating is to regularly include fish rich in Omega-3’s. It’s great for your heart and your brain.
Control Cholesterol.
Everyone has cholesterol. It’s the waxy substance in your bloodstream and cells. Some cholesterol is important for good health, but too much cholesterol in your blood puts you at major risk for heart disease and stroke. When too much LDL (or bad) cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can slowly build up inside the walls of your arteries that feed your heart and brain. Cholesterol particles combine with other substances in your blood to form plaque. This can narrow the arteries and make them less flexible, putting you at major risk for heart disease and stroke.
Lose Weight.
If you’re overweight, don’t waste your energy feeling guilty or bad about it. Instead, do something positive. BMI is the key. BMI is a height-to-weight comparison that helps you identify the healthy weight target for your height. If your BMI is higher than 25, you need to bring that number down. Losing weight means changing the balance of calories in to calories out.
Reduce Blood Sugar.
Your digestion turns all carbohydrates into sugar or glucose which is then carried throughout your bloodstream to give you energy. Complex carbohydrates like whole-wheat breads and grains, and fruits and vegetables take longer to digest, helping to keep your energy supply steady. But simple sugars, like sweets, donuts, and white bread are very quickly converted into glucose, which can cause your body to call for extra surges of a hormone, insulin, to help regulate the energy supply. If your blood sugar is high, as often happens when you maintain a diet with too many simple carbohydrates, there will be a growth of plaque in your arteries. Diabetes is treatable but very dangerous and can often lead to heart disease and stroke. Even if you don’t have diabetes, you need to know your blood sugar level. Be sure to get a blood sugar level test after fasting at least every three years, because controlling glucose is an important part of stopping heart disease before it starts.
Don’t Smoke.
Even if you’ve smoked for years, your body can start the repair process as soon as you stop. If you’re ready to start your plan for smoke-free health, it’s a good idea to talk with your healthcare provider. Medication can be helpful for some people during the kick-the-habit phase and research shows combining medical and behavioral therapies can increase success rates.
Remember, Life’s Simple Seven work together to help you build a better and stronger life, so by investing in improving in one area, like your blood sugar levels, you are likely to improve your weight and nutrition, too. However, without a plan, you’ll be at an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and other illnesses and disabilities. You may see an increased need for surgeries and other medical treatments, and you’ll almost certainly face a diminished quality of life.
Please join us February 20th at 1:30 pm in the PAC for our Smart Moves presentation on this topic.
Serious eye conditions that are seen with aging are glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. Glaucoma refers to diseases that cause optic nerve damage, some of which are related to an increase in intraocular pressure, which cause progressive vision loss. Symptoms are very few until diminished vision is noticed. Conventional treatments can be pretty drastic but research is showing that vigorous exercise may reduce the intraocular pressure associated with glaucoma. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness among Americans over the age of 65. Dry macular degeneration causes gradual central vision loss and results from aging and thinning of tissues in the macula or deposit of pigment. Wet macular degeneration arises from the body’s attempt to make up for lack of nutrients by building extra blood vessels beneath the retina, but the new blood vessels leak fluid which causes permanent damage to the retinal cells. Studies are showing that AMD is a nutritional and lifestyle responsive eye disease. Diabetic retinopathy is vision-threatening damage to the retina caused by diabetes. Blindness is largely preventable if the patient and doctor work together for proper use of medications, blood sugar testing, and proper diet and lifestyle.
Keep your New Year’s resolution and sign up for the Walk across America Program that The Oasis is offering. Registration begins January 2, 2019. The program will run from January 14 through March 11 lasting 8 weeks. We will keep track of how many miles each participant walks or completes on the Nu-Step or treadmill. You may want to use a pedometer, your Fitbit or your smartphone Pedometer App to record your steps. Turn in your mileage/steps each Monday. Everyone’s mileage will be kept up individually and as a group total to see how far we can walk; pointing out interesting landmarks along the way. Last year, 45 participants walked Route 66 and accumulated over 2694 miles. This year we will follow The Great River Road along the mighty Mississippi River from Itasca, Minnesota, through Memphis, to New Orleans, Louisiana. We’ll have photos along the hike and follow our progress on a map. If we have enough participants, we could make it all the way- almost 3000 miles. We’ll have helpful tips each week, awards and surprises for everyone, as well as the reward of beginning and continuing a great exercise habit of walking for strength and endurance. We will have weekly door prizes and a Grand Prize of Dinner for Two at the Exquisite Cuisine for the most miles recorded. Sign up in The Oasis or the Life Enhancement Office. I can’t wait to get our hiking shoes on again.
If you feel ill and weak this winter season, therapy can help. Therapy can assist in developing a wellness plan that will help prevent loss of strength, range of motion, and falls so you can continue living an independent and active lifestyle. Let’s be preventative this winter season and not wait until something happens for us to take action.
Virginia Granger was born February 21, 1920 in Johnson City, Illinois. She and her parents, Jesse and Orpha Henderson, moved to West Frankfort, Illinois when Virginia was about two years old. Virginia graduated from West Frankfort Community High School in 1937. She went to Nursing School at Christian Welfare Hospital in East St. Louis, Illinois and earned her RN in 1942. Later, after her service in the Army, Virginia went to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
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