Happy Heart Health Month! You might think that heart disease is something you don’t have to worry about until you’re much older, but many of the habits you develop now are major risk factors.
According to an analysis published in the January issue of Archives and Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, bad health habits – smoking, drinking alcohol and obesity – seem to rise dramatically once a person moves from their teens to adulthood.
Researchers analyzed data from a group of 14,000 young people who were first interviewed when they were between 12 and 19 years old, and then again seven years later when they were 19-26 years old.
The interview questions were related to diet, activity level, obesity, tobacco use, substance use, violence, mental health, reproductive health and access to health care.
Health status worsened with age in nearly every category and for every ethnic group, and the change was most striking in the categories of diet, obesity, activity level and alcohol consumption. All of these factors are related to heart disease.
Heart disease, also known as cardiovascular disease, is one of the top killers of Americans, accounting for 41 percent of all deaths in the U.S. Deaths from heart disease are nearly three times the rate of lung cancer, the number two cause of death. More people die from heart disease than from all other leading causes combined!
In addition to heart attacks, cardiovascular disease includes a range of diseases such as stroke, hardening of the arteries, and high blood pressure.
Heart disease is often referred to as a "lifestyle" disease because many of the factors that increase your risk are within your control. These external risk factors (as opposed to internal risk factors such as genetics and age) include smoking, being overweight and being inactive.
Mary-Jo Lomax is a health educator at De Anza College. For more information, visit the Health Center in the Hinson Campus Center.
