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Bradford`s Healthy Hearts - lifestyle choices

It may be an old adage, but it’s absolutely true that it’s never too late to change your lifestyle.  Even in old age, there are huge benefits to stopping smoking, doing some exercise, cutting down on alcohol and eating more healthily.

Heart disease kills!

CVD includes all the diseases of the heart and circulation including coronary heart disease, angina, heart attack, congenital heart disease and stroke. It's also known as heart and circulatory disease. Other types of cardiovascular disease include heart valve disease and cardiomyopathy (a term used for diseases of the heart muscle).

In the Bradford district one in five people over the age of 65 dies from coronary heart disease, whilst one in two people will die of some form of vascular disease.

In Bradford Districts CCG alone, more than 41,000 people (over one in 10) are affected by high blood pressure (hypertension) – a leading cause of heart disease and stroke - whilst over 4,000 people have an irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation) and more than 5,000 people have experienced a stroke or mini-stroke (TIA).

 

How healthy is your heart?

Use this free calculator to find out your heart age.

What does it tell you about your heart?  Whatever it tells you, now is the right time to start thinking about how to make changes to your lifestyle.   We’ve put together some of our favourite sources of information, advice and help so that you can find them easily.

You could also talk to your practice nurse about how you can get the most health benefits from this information.

7. Diabetes

Bradford Beating Diabetes

People with diabetes have a higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease.

Diabetes makes it difficult for the body to control blood sugar levels.  High blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels and cause a range of complications such as heart attack, heart failure, stroke and angina.

If you have diabetes make sure that you have all of your regular check-ups with your doctor and/or practice nurse.  These include:

  • measuring your blood glucose level (HbA1c), blood pressure and cholesterol level
  • retinal (eye) screening
  • foot and leg check
  • blood and urine testing (to check kidney function)
  • weight check
  • smoking status

 

You can find out more information about diabetes and cardiovascular disease from:

Diabetes UK
British Heart Foundation

Locally, look out for Bradford Beating Diabetes, our campaign to prevent diabetes becoming an inevitable part of many people’s lives.  The key aim of the campaign is to identify everyone who is at risk of developing diabetes, and ensure they get appropriate advice, care and support to prevent or delay the onset of the condition;

6. Stress

Spotting the early signs of stress will also help prevent it getting...
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5. Blood Pressure

More than one in ten people living in Bradford are known to have high...
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4. Overweight

If you’d like free local support to help you lose weight...
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3. Fatty Foods

We recommend eating a healthy, balanced, high-fibre diet...
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2. Alcohol

Do you know how much you are drinking? Keep a drinks diary for a week...
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1. Smoking

Giving up smoking is the single biggest thing you can do to improve your...
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LOOK AFTER YOUR HEART...

 

1. Exercise

30 minutes’ exercise a day keeps your heart healthy …

The best way of maintaining a healthy weight – and reduce your chances of developing high blood pressure - is to combine a healthy diet with regular exercise.

That means around 30 minutes of physical exercise on five or more days a week – things like: fast walking, riding a bike, mowing the lawn, hiking and much more.  

Regular exercise makes your heart and blood circulatory system more efficient, lowers your cholesterol level, and keeps your blood pressure at a healthy level.

If you're doing no exercise now, start out slow. Even 10 minutes at a time may offer some health benefits. Studies show that people who have achieved even a moderate level of fitness are much less likely to die early than those with a low fitness level.

There's lots of information about building up and maintaining your fitness on the “live well” pages at NHS Choices.

You can also use the Bradford Encouraging Exercise in People (BEEP) programme from Active Bradford. Ask at your GP practice for a referral. 

2. Smartphones

Let your smartphone do the talking …

There are lots of helpful tools you can download to your smartphone to help with changing your lifestyle, including apps to:

Have a look at the NHS Choices health apps library to find more safe and tested apps that will help you manage your health

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