Keep your heart healthy

British Heart Foundation Nurse, Sarah McStay, is promoting the benefits of heart health

People in Rochdale are being urged to keep their hearts healthy, as part of National Heart Month. 

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is preventable but it still kills more than 110,000 people in England every year. In the Rochdale borough, more people die from heart disease than anything else.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is working with the NHS to tackle heart disease in the Rochdale borough. As part of the Hearty Lives programme, three cardiovascular nurses work in the community to find and treat people who are at risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

“You are more likely to have a heart attack if you are overweight or obese, have high blood pressure or cholesterol, or you smoke,” said Sarah McStay, BHF Specialist Cardiovascular Nurse for Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.

People who have diabetes, have a family history of heart disease or are of South Asian origin are also more at risk.

Ms McStay added: “Sadly, more and more people are leading an unhealthy lifestyle, which increases the risk of having a heart attack, but there are lots of things you can do to keep your heart healthy, even if you’ve had problems in the past.”

“The key to keeping your heart healthy is to lead a healthy and active lifestyle by not smoking, having a healthy weight and having low blood pressure and cholesterol. We know that some people find it difficult to do some of these things and so we are able to provide advice and support so that you can make some healthy lifestyle changes.”

Hearty Lives is a national programme by the BHF that aims to improve the heart health and lifestyle of people so that they can live longer and healthier lives.

For more information about Hearty Lives visit www.hmr.nhs.uk/heartylives