A follow up to yesterday’s post to stress how important it is for us to workout regularly!

February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and a major cause of disability. An estimated 1.2 million persons in the United States will have a myocardial infarction (i.e., heart attack) in 2007. Recognizing and responding quickly to symptoms and receiving appropriate care can limit heart damage. Prevention measures reduce the risk for heart disease and its effects. At the individual level, persons can eliminate or control their own risk factors, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, obesity, and diabetes. At the community level, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends school, worksite, and health-care facility education programs on heart disease; policies that ensure access to screening, referral, and counseling services for stroke and heart-disease risk factors; and measures that ensure access to healthy food and safe environments for physical activity.

Information regarding CDC heart-disease programs is available at http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp. Information regarding American Heart Month and heart disease is available from AHA (http://www.americanheart.org) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nhlbi.nih.org).