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Matter of the heart: Commonwealth Health offers '28-Day Healthy Heart Challenge'

The Citizens' Voice - 1/29/2023

Jan. 29—Commonwealth Health wants residents to focus on their hearts during American Heart Month by participating throughout February in its "28-Day Healthy Heart Challenge."

Those who do will receive a daily email with brief articles, quick tips and a challenge promoting heart health. One challenge, for example, encourages participants to take daily walks. Another tasks them with discussing their family health history with parents and siblings.

The 28-day initiative aims to raise awareness about heart issues and help participants exercise more, be more active, relieve stress, eat better, lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and generally embrace a more heart-healthy lifestyle.

"We want to prevent the heart problems from coming on," said Dr. Muhammad Dogar, an interventional cardiologist at Commonwealth Health'sRegional Hospital of Scranton. "I think by raising awareness we can start the process of preventative care."

Figures provided by Commonwealth and available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underscore the importance of maintaining a healthy heart, as heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for men, women and people of most racial and ethnic groups.

High blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease, according to the CDC, which notes diabetes, obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity and excessive alcohol use also increase risk.

A person has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the U.S., where about 800,000 people a year have a heart attack.

Dogar and Lackawanna County Health Director Dr. Sabine Charles said eating healthy, exercising and other positive lifestyle choices are important to maintaining a healthy heart, which is crucial to overall health.

"If your heart is not working well, it's basically all your body is not working well," Charles said. "You need a good heart for all your organs to function well, so it's important to take care of your heart."

To sign up for the 28-day challenge, visit commonwealthhealth.net/heart-challenge.

Contact the writer: jhorvath@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9141; @jhorvathTT on Twitter.

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(c)2023 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

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