Does It Take Heart Disease To Get You Motivated?
Heart Disease...
that's usually an attention Grabber
The Paper read, "Retired Railroad man dies from heart disease sitting on his front porch."
In 1985 I had moved to North Carolina for a job where I met a man that had just retired from the Railroad.
After 40 plus years he was going to his new house on the beach front and sit on the porch to watch the waves.
He was already over weight, recently divorced, and now retiring to nothing. He had no motivation to retire to something, to continue to bring good to his life or those around him. Sitting on that porch was good to him, but life with no motivation and no action invites dis-ease into it.
Uncle Bill, who is passed now, most of his life smoked non-filter Camel and Lucky Strike cigarettes. One day when he was in his middle 50's he had a heart attack and they rushed him to the hospital. They were able to save him and told him he could quit smoking and change a few things and live. Or he could continue and die.
He had a wife and eleven children, he left the cigarettes at the hospital never to breathe in another puff of smoke. He lived another 15 years with a driving motivation to live. He even out-lived his wife.
I encourage people all the time... exercise, move your body, do something with your life that can bring an impact to those around you. Make plans to live to be 100 plus! To do that you have to have a goal, some action plans and action.
This is a little unusual approach to getting motivated but heart disease is the #1 killer in the U.S. for both sexes. Let,s change that because...
It doesn't take much, just a little each day at home or at the gym. You will surprised at the effects
Heart Disease Prevention is Possible - it is the #1 cause of death for men and women in the U.S.
Heart Disease Prevention Is Possible
While it’s true that heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the US for both women and men, it’s also true that you have some control over certain risk factors that lead up to heart disease. And, you can even reverse some of the symptoms if they’re caught early on.
Heart Disease is considered a lifestyle disease, which means its main causes are lifestyle choices such as diet and lack of exercise. This is good news as it means that we have an adequate amount of control over it.
The important thing is to learn all you can about these factors and how they can be regulated so you can enjoy a healthy, strong disease-free heart.
But first, let's answer this question...
What exactly is heart disease?
It’s usually a broad term which refers to several conditions relating to an unhealthy heart, which may include:
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Heart failure
- Hardening of the arteries
- Arrhythmia
- Heart valve problems
The good news is that there are things you can do to help avoid any type of heart disease. Generally, heart diseases doesn’t happen overnight. It develops over the years, and its symptoms may be spurred on or slowed down depending on the lifestyle choices you make starting from your early adulthood years.
Some scientists even argue that it starts as early as your childhood. Because it’s all connected. This also makes sense from the perspective of heart disease being a lifestyle disease, as many of our eating and activity habits are solidified in childhood.
Now that we have a small, scratch the surface type, understanding of this dis-ease (always hyphenate that word) let's ask the question...
How Do I Prevent Heart Disease?
When it comes to preventing heart disease, the American Heart Association and other health experts break it down into 3 categories:
- Primordial prevention is for those who have no risk factors that could result in heart disease. This type of prevention works at avoiding any type of inflammation within the lining of the heart. But at the same time maintaining heart health in order to ward off high blood pressure, extra weight, and high cholesterol.
- Primary prevention is meant to prevent someone who’s at risk for heart disease from having a heart attack, stroke, or develop any other type of heart disease, or need surgery or angioplasty.
- It provides a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle for individuals who suffer from high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels. Medications may also be prescribed in an effort to control these risk factors and bring them down to healthier levels.
- But also be careful of side-effects of some medications.
- Secondary prevention which is the measures taken after someone has suffered from some type of heart disease or undergone heart surgery. These may include...
- taking medications to lower cholesterol levels and aspirin to help prevent blood clots.
- It also includes eating healthier foods,
- exercising regularly to ward off stress and manage weight,
- quitting smoking if needed and regulating how much alcohol is consumed on a daily basis.
- The aim of secondary prevention is to defend against a second heart attack, and to stop any advancing heart disease symptoms.
Change what you can change
First things first, let’s find out what risk factors can’t be controlled so you can get them out of the way and focus on what you can control.
Risk factors you can’t change:
- Gender- that's male or female
- Race/ethnicity - what race are you and your ancestors
- Family history -- who in your family tree (history) had heart disease before
- Age - heart disease really doesn't care - In the Boy Scout club at age 12, I had an 11 year old friend that died from a faulty heart valve.
Risk factors within your control:
- Manage your weight
- Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet
- Regular exercise
- Low blood pressure
- Low cholesterol and triglycerides (the most common type of body fats) levels
- Maintain blood sugar levels
- Limit alcoholic consumption
- No smoking
- Manage stress
- Get quality, uninterrupted sleep - this one is a big factor that many over look.
Whether you’re working on maintaining a healthy heart or working at reducing certain risk factors, studies have proven that making healthy lifestyle choices can fend off nearly 80% of heart diseases, 75% of sudden cardiac deaths and 50% of strokes.
It’s never too early to start making those smart choices and start investing in a healthier, brighter, longer life.
How do I do all that?
Well... you start by doing like my uncle did... Make a decision.
A decision that you are going to take care of your health so that you can help others do the same thing. Make a decision that your are going to be healthy enough to spend your grand kids inheritance. (even if you don't!)
Now that's going to require some motivation to start and to continue that journey. This motivation can come in many forms.
It is my hope that it's not a heart disease related incident.
Look in the mirror and make a decision that you are going to be motivated to change the lifestyle for the better.
Make a real commitment! Develop the habits of healthy people.
To your success
Baxter Cribbs
baxter@baxtercribbs.com
PS - When you are looking for ways to get and stay motivated there are two places to look... internally and externally. Here is a FREE download to help show you the way and give you some other pointers also - check it out Here
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More Resources For You:
How to Keep Motivated to Reach your Potential
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