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Did you know that heart disease and stroke are the number 1 and number 3 killers of blacks? That's scary! According to the American Heart Association cardiovascular diseases account for 33% of all deaths among African Americans. These numbers are too large to me so I thought it would be a good idea if I took the time to talk about this topic for a brief moment!
There's a few things that increases the chances of these two killers that we can't change such as age, gender (unfortunately men are at a greater risk) and of course heredity but.... there are many everyday behaviors that we engage in that are increasing our risk of heart disease and stroke that we can change.
WE CAN DECREASE OUR CHANCES BY CONTROLLING THESE FEW THINGS!!!
• Cigarette smoking (Smokers are 2-4 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease.)
• High blood pressure (More than 40% of blacks have high blood pressure...stop smoking, lay off the salt, stay active and reduce stress)
• High cholesterol (Again control weight, and cut back on fatty foods, cheese, and butter...EAT HEALTHY)
• Physical inactivity (Simple stay active...dance, run, walk, etc.)
• Obesity and overweight (77% of black women are overweight and 63% of black men...so we need to EXERCISE)
• Diabetes (2 out of 3 people with diabetes usually die from cardiovascular diseases...SCARY!)
This is a very big deal and we all need to take control of our lives to reduce our chances of being a statistic!
TAKE CONTROL
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