Heart disease

Our heart is the centre of love, joy and contentment. I love what the coach, played by Tom Cruise, says to his American football player in his film "Jerry McGuire": The footballer was complaining that he was not well received and recognised by the fans and the media. Tom Cruise said to him because you are not playing with your heart. This statement was the key to his client's success.

As well the heart is the centre of physical life and nourishment. It pumps blood into our body and carry oxygen and nutrients into our cells. No wonder CHD is the most common cause of death in the western world. No wonder one needs to have a healthy heart.

Heart disease remains the number one killer in Australia. Cardiovascular disease such as heart attack and stroke claim the life of an Australian every ten minutes. The cost to the health system is more than $3.7 billion a year. Deaths from cardiovascular disease are greater than 2:1 than deaths from lung and breast cancer, and are 5:1 with deaths from car accidents.

• 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop coronary heart disease in their life.³⁴
• 2.8 million Australians had CVD in 1995. That is 16% of the population.
• The risk of having coronary heart disease (CHD) in a 40-year-old in their future life is 1 in 2 for males and 1 in 3 for females.¹⁸
• The prevalence of CVD increased from 17 % (2.2 million in 1989-90) to 21% (2.8 million in 1995).³⁶
• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is costing the Australian community $3.7 billion a year.³⁴
• In Australia 8 out of 10 adults are either physically inactive, overweight, have high blood pressure or smoke cigarettes.³⁴
• Not surpassingly 1 in 10 Australian adults has 3 or more of these major risk factors.³⁴

As heart disease is the number one killer in the industrial world, our number one priority should be to prevent dying from heart disease early in life. CHD or coronary heart disease is the main cause of death and this includes angina and infarction.

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