Flu/Swine Flu/Heart Disease

The seasonal flu is responsible for 200,000 hospitalizations each year and approximately 36,000 deaths each year. So far this year the swine flu has been responsible for 4,958 hospitalizations and 292 deaths. Of the people hospitalized 70% have had pre-existing conditions. These are not made up numbers, they are directly from the CDC website. Now I am in no way trying to minimize the risk some people are at of becoming very ill from the flu. I just wanted to put these numbers out there because the media has caused an enormous amount of panic and it's nice to actually see some solid statistics.

On to my next subject, Cardiovascular Disease. Cardiovascular Disease is STILL the number one killer!! In fact it kills more people per year then the next 3 causes of death combined including all Cancers, Alzheimer's and Accidents, yet a lot of us still don't seem to be concerned about it. The old it won't happen to me mentality comes into play with this. . A few more startling facts are 910,000 Americans have cardiovascular disease, a person dies of cardiovascular disease every 35 seconds from the disease. For those people fortunate enough to survive a Cardiac episode, there life will be forever changed. They may live in fear of having another episode. The average number years of lost life due to heart attack is 14.2 years. Cardiovascular Disease in large part is a preventable disease. The top nine risk factors for Cardiovascular Disease in order are as follows, over consumption of alcohol, lack of exercise, lack of vegetables, obesity, hypertension, physiological index, smoking, diabetes and cholesterol ratios. Now almost every single one of those top nine are life style choices. Many of them could be corrected by exercise alone.

The point I am trying to make is, many people are in a panic over this flu season and while we need to be aware of it there is no need for panic. We all should however take a long hard look at these facts and decide whether or not we can make some changes in our lifestyle. I know that it is not as simple as going out and getting a flu shot but you can do a lot to help prevent Cardiovascular Disease. Remember your risk of dying from Cardiovascular Disease is over 30 times your risk of dying from the flu. Also a lot of the things you need to do to help prevent Cardiovascular Disease also helps prevent the flu.