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TRAVEL HEALTH TIPS Cardiologist advises preventive maintenance for a normal heart
Source: Manila Bulletin
Author: By Dr. Miguel R. S. Cornejo
Date: 2004-09-23
 
Prevention against coronary heart attack and strokes has become a serious matter worldwide. Surveys show that smokers between the age of 35 and 65 die of coronary heart attack, stroke, paralysis or lung cancer.





That is the bad news. The good news is that most airlines and hotels, medical centers and in some cases airports, malls and public places today aresmoke free. Thanks to physicians and health advocates who took the lead not only on smoking cessation programs, but also the adoption of natural education, weight-reduction programs, behavioral modification, and blood pressure control to reduce the known cardiovascular risk factors.



Recently a committee of the Philippine Medical Association made initiatives in coordination with transportation companies including airlines to educate the public about said risk factors to avoid the incidence of heart attact and stroke among travelers.



Dr. Alexander Leaf of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, stated before a group of international doctors that a “commitment to preventive medicine would help convince the public that we, physicians, are interested in the health of all and are not catering to just a few dramatic, invasive, expensive diagnostic procedures and surgical interventions.”



Dr. Leaf said, “There are strong indications, if not, always rigorous proofs, that controllable environmental factors play a large part in the cause of promotion of both atherosclerosis and cancers. Is it rational to respond to the 1.5 million heart attacks that occur each year in the United States alone, with 200,000 to 300,000 coronary by-pass operations at some $35,000 per annum? Even if the procedures were curative rather than palliative in nature, it would do nothing to reduce the diseases’ burden in future generations of citizens 30, 40 and 59 years old.”



Whether you are 20, 40 or 80, you are living within a margin of risk that is alterable and modifiable.



It means a careful assessment of everything in your life that may figure in the cause of disease.



Specific changes will be needed to set you on a course that is compatible with and not destructive to cardiovascular health.



If you have high fat levels, such as triglycerides and cholesterol, you should not continue to indulge yourself with meals rich in cholesterol and carbohydrates. Being overweight and lacking essential exercise habits rank lower on the risk scale, but they are both issues you can face and alter.

The newest trend of today’s prevention and treatment is “preventive maintenance.” We take medicine not because we are sick, but rather take it to prevent sickness, or delay the process of normal hardening and thickening of our blood vessels (aging process), or staying healthy and strong. We are like plants in a pot that need “fertilizers” to keep us green and flowering. We should not wait for them to wither or show signs of wilting before we apply the needed fertilizer. In the same vein, we should consult our doctors to give that kind of “fertilizer” to promote and stimulate the growth of new roots, to prolong and sustain life itself. Then perhaps, we shall no longer be victims of early heart attacks or strokes and die of “Old Age” as happier, mature adults.



 

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