Fearfully & Wonoderfully Made!

Have you ever stopped to think of what an amazing machine the human body is?

As intricate as our bodies are it is amazing what abuse our bodies can withstand. Our body can withstand extreme temperatures, extreme climates and adapt to maintain basic functions.

But as tough as our body is, it can only take so much. Eventually the stress that we put on our bodies by requiring that they over work or when we provide less than adequate quality food supply will have a permanent affect. 

It will be then that we will have plenty of time to educate ourselves and to try to remedy our ails. Wouldn't it, however, seem prudent to apply a bit of preventative actions now so that we can try to delay or prevent a disruption of the normal operations of our bodies.

Try today to remove stressful things.

   Before getting uptight about something, ask yourself...

• Will this matter 10 years from now?
• Does this affect my integrity?
• Why is this so important?
• If I wait 1 hour, can I come back to this with a clearer head?

Looking forward to the Holiday Season, try to enjoy your days more by looking on the bright side of life, and letting go of some of the Stress that you carry around each day!

Healthy Habits ~ Happy Heart!

Trying to become more heart healthy conscious is important. We spend our lives taking for granted the constant strain and the importance of this organ.

We have a new list to ponder. But instead of dealing with a heart attack after it has happened, it would seem prudent to do what we can to prevent it in the first place.

1. Stop Smoking.
2. Cut down on salt.
3. Watch your diet.
4. Monitor your alcohol.
5. Get active.
6. Manage your weight.
7. Get your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked by your doctor.
8. Learn to manage your stress levels.
9. Check your family history.
10. Make sure you know the signs of coronary heart disease.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/mar/17/NHS1


Have you learned and put to memory the 12 symptoms of a heart attack?? If you have, you're already on your way to a healthier heart!
Educating yourself about the symptoms and remedies will help change your thinking! Changing your thinking, will eventually change your actions! See! It's not so hard!

Heart Attack Help

There is so much to be understood by the common person about the types of heart attacks and the various symptoms that are detected.  But this is one of those occasions when ignorance is NOT bliss. And you would think that as we further educate ourselves, and as we become increasingly aware of our own health, that we would be more vigilant in getting treatment for something that we cannot understand or diagnose ourselves.

But in a report by Jennifer Warner of WebMD we learn that statistics show that from the years 2001 to 2006 the time between when a patient observes symptoms and when that person seeks medical attention averages two hours. TWO HOURS! 60% of these patients reported waiting more than two hours to seek treatment, and even more alarming 11% of these waited as much as 12 hours after experiencing symptoms.

The ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the most dangerous type of heart attack occurs when one of the hearts arteries has a sudden and complete blockage. But whether the heart attack is discovered to be a STEMI or non-STEMI immediate attention will lessen the damage done to the body.

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20101107/many-with-heart-attack-symptoms-delay-care

Timing is Everything~ And the TIME is NOW!

There is so much to be understood by the common person about the types of heart attacks and the various symptoms that are detected.  But this is one of those occasions when ignorance is NOT bliss. And you would think that as we further educate ourselves, and as we become increasingly aware of our own health, that we would be more vigilant in getting treatment for something that we cannot understand or diagnose ourselves.

But in a report by Jennifer Warner of WebMD we learn that statistics show that from the years 2001 to 2006 the time between when a patient observes symptoms and when that person seeks medical attention averages two hours. TWO HOURS! 60% of these patients reported waiting more than two hours to seek treatment, and even more alarming 11% of these waited as much as 12 hours after experiencing symptoms.

The ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the most dangerous type of heart attack occurs when one of the hearts arteries has a sudden and complete blockage. But whether the heart attack is discovered to be a STEMI or non-STEMI immediate attention will lessen the damage done to the body.

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20101107/many-with-heart-attack-symptoms-delay-care

2020 Goals for AHA

From the American Heart Association 2010 report Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, we see the importance of keeping a constant vigil against the deadliest disease to Americans. According to this report more than one in three adults in America have one or more types of Cardiovascular disease (81,100,000). Approximately 47 percent of these are over the age of 60 (38,100,000).

The AHA lists high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke as Cardiovascular Diseases.

The most recent statistics for one year are from 2006. And in 2006 More than 151,000 American killed by CVD were under the age of 65. Nearly 33 percent of people who died from CVD died before their 75^th birthday.

To put these numbers in better perspective, here is a comparison of other leading causes of death and their mortality rate.

Cardiovascular Diseases: ................... 1,347,000

Cancer................................................. 559,888

Alzheimer’s disease............................... 72,432

HIV (AIDS).............................................. 12,113

In hopes to change these statistics, the American Heart Association has committed to what they are calling the 2020 Impact Goal.

“By 2020, to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20 percent.”

Stay in School ~ It's Good for your health!

It has long been noted that lower income people have poorer health. Deductive reasoning would imply that a higher education level effects your income, therefore, it effects your health.

Now there can be various reasons for this, but whatever the slant of view, the facts cannot be denied.

You may not be able to change your situation in life, and you may just now be getting a hold on your own health. But we need to encourage others toward healthy living.

The character that it takes to complete school, and then to go on to higher education will only aid in successful living.

"We found that even after accounting for various risk factors, people in poverty still had higher CRP {C-reactive protein (CRP), a risk factor for heart disease}," said Dawn Alley, another corresponding author and a recent doctoral graduate from the USC Davis School. "This suggests that even beyond issues like health behaviors and chronic conditions, there is something about poverty that makes people sick, and at least part of this effect is working through CRP."

Education IS healthy!

http://www.emaxhealth.com/92/7494.html

A HIGH Quality Life!

Quality of life is a term often referred to toward the end of our lives. But what are we doing to ensure that we live a Quality Life now? In the coming days I’ll be discussing things that most of us already know, but obviously a little reminder won’t hurt. And if I can help just one person to live a longer, healthier life, my goal will have been accomplished.

IS YOUR EMOTIONAL HEART HEALTHY?

I know that life gets complicated, and sometimes there are twists and turns in life that we never anticipated or planned for. But I want to encourage you, that if there is something in your life that has you emotionally distressed “Deal with it!” No really, I MEAN deal with it.

Sometimes things happen completely out of our control (ie: grown children making poor decisions, friend or loved one ill) and we allow these things to affect our physical health by worrying, & stressing over things that we CANNOT change. If you can’t change it, admit that you can’t change it. But you CAN change how it affects you! And if there are things that emotionally have you down that you CAN change… then devise a plan to change those things so that they are no longer a negative factor.

Now, don’t everybody get mad at me all at once! I’m not a pie in the sky person, and I do live in reality. I’m just saying, WE ALL allow things to bother us that will eventually have a negative impact on our physical health if not handled properly. So, deal with those things! Face them, don’t make them bigger than they already are, and then find something positive to dwell on! Trust me, it will help!

IS YOUR PHYSICAL HEART HEALTHY?

The Center for Disease Control reports that Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in American Adults. Now I would think that just the awareness of this fact would bring down the statistic. Why don’t we make sufficient changes that are required to prevent our lives ending in this way?

But even for those of us who do make a conscious effort to increase our awareness of our physical health, sometimes there are factors beyond our control that will still remain with us.

The most complicated questions usually have pretty simple answers. So I’m not trying to be an expert. I will be here stating the obvious and discussing matters of our heart health.

Have a great day today – do something positive for your heart! And if you’re toward the end of your day, look back on today and see the good things that you did. You can’t change your mistakes, but you can learn from them to have an even better tomorrow!