Most of us hardly even think of our heart until something bad happens either to ourselves or to our loved ones! It is good to be aware that most risk factors of coronary heart disease are preventable and therefore, under your control.  Often after a loss of a loved one to a heart attack, our concern is only short-lived, before life continues to business as usual.  As you embark on this New Year, take a minute to assess your risk of heart disease so that you can take care of your heart.

Assess your risk using the following table (answer either yes or no to each risk factor)

# No Yes Risk Factor
High Blood Cholesterol
1.* I often eat foods high in cholesterol or high in fat, such as butter, full cream milk, deep fried foods, sweets, chocolates, etc.
2.* My blood cholesterol (if tested) is over 240
3.* I eat a lot of processed foods (such as sausages, bacon etc), and fast food
High Blood Pressure
4.* My blood pressure is higher than 120/80
5.* I am overweight
6.* I exercise less than 30 minutes on most days
7.* I eat a lot of salty foods
Smoking
8.* I am a cigarette, pipe or cigar smoker; or I use tobacco in other forms
9.* I have little motivation to quit smoking
Other risks
10. I have diabetes or a family history of diabetes
11.* I do not regularly make an effort to reduce/relieve stress
12.* I am not physically active
13.* I am a woman on birth control pills who smokes
14. I have a close male relative who had a heart attack before the age of 55 years or a female before the age of 65 years.

The more times you answered “Yes”, the greater your chance for developing coronary heart disease. But now that you know the risk factors, I believe you are ready to address them and reduce the risk. Note that the 12  risk factors out of the 14 (marked with a *) are completely under your control, and you can do something to reduce eliminate them.  As one of my friends put it, “Take care of your heart so that it can take care of you”. Try to make this one of your New Year resolutions.

Jipende, Ufunguo wa mtindo bora wa maisha uko mkononi mwako.

“The key to a healthy lifestyle is in your hands”.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 7:55 am and is filed under English, Lifestyle, Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.