Introduction

Around the world people are living longer, that is the plus side, but as we age people are getting sicker. Cardiopulmonary conditions are among the most dangerous of the ailments facing this aging population. The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation of this studies and publishes much of this information. They name high blood pressure as the number 1 health risk world wide. Their Global Burden of Disease profile for the United States lists the top four causes of premature death as:


                         1.   Ischemic Heart Disease(Diseases that restrict blood flow to the heart)

                                                              


                                                        2. Lung Cancer















Lung cancer US distribution











                                                                


                                                           3. Stroke

                                        and 4. COPD(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).



This Highlights the fact that we all need to focus on prevention, meaning we need to take our heart, lung, and vascular health more seriously.

To do this we need focus on certain factors which are all equally as important as the others- 1. If you smoke, stop. 2.Eat a heart healthy diet. 3. Get adequate exercise including good cardio workouts that raise your heart rate to the appropriate level. 4. Avoid exposure to respiratory irritants as much as possible, and 5. Keep drinking to a minimum, and 6. If you have any heart or lung conditions get proper treatment and follow your physicians advice.

Now that I've discussed the importance of  cardiopulmonary health I will be posting suggestions and instructions for optimizing your lung and heart health.

Here are a few helpful links to begin with:
http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/
http://www.goldcopd.org/
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

Thanks and please return for fun fitness, healthy recipes, medication advice, smoking cessation and lots of other fun stuff I will be posting.


NOTE: I do not own these images, and have only posted them for public awareness purposes, no copyright infringement intended.