Be Heart Smart: Provide a Helping of Healthy Information

Nearly a million Americans have heart attacks every year, and heart disease is a leading cause of death for both men and women. Of course, it doesn’t need to be that way—not in this day and age, when heart disease and the resulting attacks are preventable. So do your part to help prevent them. Take advantage of American Heart Month during February to give your employees some important information on the subject of healthy hearts.

---

You need safety policies, but you don’t have to write them. We’ve already written them for you in BLR’s Essential Safety Policies program. Examine it at no cost or risk. Click for details.

---

There are lots of heart hazards. Employees at greatest risk of having a heart attack are in middle age and:

• Have a diet high in fat and cholesterol


• Don’t exercise much or at all


• Are significantly overweight


• Have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol levels


• Smoke (or have recently quit after years of smoking)


• Have a family history of heart disease

A healthier lifestyle can mean a healthier heart. To prevent heart disease and heart attacks, the top three things employees can do are:

1. Stop smoking, if they smoke.


2. Eat a more nutritious, heart-friendly diet.


3. Follow a sensible and regular exercise plan (after checking with their doctor, of course).

Step away from the cheeseburger. Health professionals say that to prevent heart disease, people should eat less:

• Fried or breaded foods


• Creams, sauces, and gravies


• High-fat dairy products


• Saturated fat (that double cheeseburger and fries are full of it!)


• Salty, high-fat snack foods

---

Get the safety policies you need without the work. They’re in BLR’s Essential Safety Policies program. Try it at no cost and no risk. Click for details.

---

And they should eat more:

• Poultry and fish


• Grains like pasta, rice, and cereal


• Fresh fruit and vegetables


• Low-fat dairy products

---

Why It Matters…

• Everybody knows somebody who is significantly overweight, somebody who smokes, and somebody who eats an unhealthy diet and gets no exercise.


• Nearly everybody knows somebody who’s had a heart attack or is a heart attack waiting to happen.


• A noteworthy percentage of your employees has or will develop heart disease, and their illness will have an impact on their job and your workplace.


• Simple lifestyle changes can drastically reduce the risk of heart disease and heart attacks.

---