Taking the Road to a Healthy Heart

Although health experts maintain that risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are common, the reality is that you can lower your risk for cardiovascular disease by making healthy lifestyle choices, Godwin Haruna writes

Mr. Goodnews John (not his real name) works in a multinational firm in a cosmopolitan city with all the trappings of heavy traffic and over population. He comes back very late in the night and settles for a heavy meal of amala, watches television in the sitting room for a while before retiring to bed. He wakes up early the next morning and rushes to the office for the long day’s work where he sits at his desk for most of the time. He sends the office cleaner to get his lunch pack from the near-by fast food eatery. At closing time late in the evening, he jumps into his car for the long drive home. Cardiologists have dubbed this kind of lifestyle unhealthy and prone to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and ultimately, untimely death.

Dr. Amam Mbakwem, associate professor of medicine and consultant cardiologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has stated that a life without exercise is an invitation to trouble. Speaking at an awareness event for this year’s World Heart Day last week in Lagos, Mbakwem advised that even if it is impossible to do physical exercise, people should be ready to walk some distances daily in order to keep fit. With a theme; “Take the road to a healthy heart’, the consultant cardiologist said the choices one makes determines the person’s health status.

She said although Nigerians have totally embraced the eating habits of the west, they have refused to adopt the exercise culture of people of that culture. She stated that the heart is very vulnerable to damage from habits such as smoking, too much alcohol and eating unhealthy meals at fast food joints. “Today we have an opportunity to prevent the future impact of heart disease and stroke by enabling heart-healthy living from childhood throughout adulthood,” she said warning that unless there is a change, the future remains bleak. The focus of the World Heart Day this year is on women and children, as heart diseases have emerged as the number one killer for women.  “Heart disease is actually the number one killer of women, causing death to one in three women. Women who suffer the first heart attack run a greater risk of losing their lives as compared to men. Even if they survive, they are more vulnerable to suffer a second stroke,” said a report from Balaji Action Medical Institute.

However, speaking at a media parley organised by Pfizer, NEAR in Lagos, Mbakwem said 25 per cent of the population suffer from CVDs. She said coronary artery disease kills more people than cancer, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined.

“Awareness plays an important role in curbing such risk factors and reducing the burden of CVDs. Several risk factors such as high blood pressure and increased cholesterol show no symptoms until devastating complications set in such as debilitating stroke or heart attack. The community needs to be educated and encouraged to address these risk factors despite their silent nature. The World Heart Day provides an ideal platform to raise awareness on matters of the heart,” the consultant cardiologist stated.

Mbakwem noted that as always, prevention is better than cure on matters of the heart. “One of the keys to preventing CVDs is getting risk factors under control. This will involve a change in lifestyle, which includes eating hearty-healthy diets that are low in fat (especially animal fat) and rich in vegetables and fruits. This will help reduce overall cholesterol levels and bad cholesterol, which are harmful to the heart. This approach will also help increase the so-called good cholesterol (high density lipoproteins HDL) while reducing other harmful, fatty molecules,” she said.

She re-emphasised the importance of exercise as well as controlling associated conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, weight, stress and smoking. She said second-hand smokers are more at risks of contacting CVDs than the real smokers. Therefore, she advocated for legislations against smoking in public places because of the harm they cause second hand smokers.

She also advocated for the addition of walkways when constructing city roads to encourage people, who are keen on walking to do so. She said the fear of being knocked down by over-speeding vehicles actually prevent some people from exercising. However, she said Nigerians should not use that as excuses for not exercising as people could use the staircase in high-rise or storey buildings instead of lifts. Also, the use of pedestrian bridges rather than running across the highways, she added, could be an involuntary exercise, which is good for the body.

Also speaking at the event, medical manager, Pfizer NEAR, Dr. Osahon Omorodion said CVDs rank as the world’s leading cause of death. Omorodion said am estimated 17.3 million people died from CVDs in 2008, representing 30 per cent of all global deaths. Of these deaths, he said an estimated 7.3 million were due to coronary heart disease (a condition that leads to heart attack) and 6.2 million were stroke-related.

Annually, the World Heart Foundation sets aside September 29 of every year to mark World Heart Day to spread awareness on healthy lifestyle choices. At the 65th World Health Assembly in May 2012, governments from 194 countries agreed the first global mortality target on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – including cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases – and made a commitment to reduce premature mortality by 25 per cent by 2025. Given that CVD accounts for nearly half of the 36 million NCD deaths annually everyone has a major role to play in achieving this target. 



Director of Communication, Pfizer NEAR, Mrs. Margret Olele said this is where World Heart Day plays a crucial role by offering the CVD community a platform to raise awareness and encourage individuals, families, communities and governments to take action to reduce the burden of CVD and prevent the 17.3 million deaths that occur each year, advancing toward the goal of reducing CVD deaths by 25 per cent by 2025.

”As we well know, CVD can affect people of all ages and population groups, including women and children. Efforts to prevent heart disease and stroke and protect people from the risk factors that cause them are required throughout people’s lives, from conception through to life end. World Heart Day, on 29 September 2013, provides us with the opportunity to encourage individual and their families to Take the road to a healthy heart”, Olele said.

The importance of a life-course approach to the prevention and control of CVD with a focus on women and children is to be addressed this year. The campaign highlights actions that can be taken through a person’s life to reduce their risk of CVD: healthy children lead to healthy adults and healthy adults lead to healthy families and communities.

Mbakwem advised Nigerians to imbibe the habit of eating vegetables always and to reduce the intake of salt in their meals. She maintained that too much salt intake does a lot of harm to the heart.

Photo Caption:  L-R: Dr. Osahon Omorodion, Yinka Subair, Dr. Mrs. Amam Mbakwem, Mrs. Margret Olele and Ms. Folake Odediran at the event