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Letter: Don’t ignore the serious threat of heart disease - National Heart Month
February is National Heart Month and the British Heart Foundation’s (www.bhf.org.uk) vision “is of a world where people do not die prematurely of heart disease.”
While I wish all your readers and their loved ones a very healthy heart, we need to remind ourselves of some basic facts:
n Heart disease kills more men and women than any other disease in developed countries
n Collectively, heart and circulatory diseases cause more than one in three of all deaths in the UK, accounting for more than 191,000 deaths each year
n Almost one in five men and one in eight women die from heart disease. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is responsible for 82,000 deaths in the UK each year, an average of 224 people each day.
However, heart disease may actually be preventable through making lifestyle changes which can benefit our heart and our overall health. Dean Ornish (author of Dr Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease) had his patients use simple yoga exercises, a daily walk, meditation and a low-fat diet and proved scientifically that heart disease can be reversed.
Although, over recent years, there is some awareness of adopting healthier lifestyles to combat heart disease, there is continuing resistance by many. Some say that lifestyle changes may be all right in theory, but not in practice. Others argue that the regimen is too drastic. Is it too drastic compared to lying on a table and surrendering to the surgeon’s knife? Have we got conditioned to swallowing pills, always wanting a quick fix?
Natural recommendations of a lighter, purer diet, some meditation, regular exercise and simple yoga stretches are gentle and noninvasive.
Compared to surgery or even to the side effects of cholesterol-reducing drugs, these practices are safe, natural and simple.
By adopting a healthier new routine we can not only start enjoying how we feel, we can begin to benefit from it. As Dr Ornish contends, this program, especially meditation, can prevent, retard or even reverse heart disease.
With millions of people around the world suffering from heart disease, it is one issue that we shouldn’t ignore.
February, as National Heart Month, is perhaps a good time to check and see if we are doing everything we can to keep our hearts healthy. Once again, wishing all a very healthy heart.
Harmesh Lakhanpaul OBE
Ledbury Road,
Peterborough
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