Monitoring your child’s vascular health is important. Here are five ways to keep their heart healthy.
February is American Heart Month, a time to focus on cardiovascular health. And contrary to the latest edition of your favorite podcast, there are no secrets or “hacks” when it comes to heart health. Two words most people think of as four-letter words – diet and exercise – are still the two best tools to promote your vascular health.
But what about children? How is their heart health? Just because someone is young does not mean they have a healthy heart. There are some shocking statistics that ought to sound alarm bells.
The pandemic ushered in remote learning, and screen time skyrocketed. Even before the pandemic arrived, screen time has been increasing over the past 50 years. Detriments of screen time include a decrease in both focus and emotional regulation.
According to the National Health Council, 40% of the United States population has at least one chronic disease. Up to 50% have two! High blood pressure is the number one chronic disease in the world. An alarming 70% of the U.S. population is overweight or obese, which yields high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other risks for heart disease.
As we wrote about last month, nutrition plays a significant role in children’s overall health. Our goal this month is not to rehash or feed you word leftovers – though it is worth the read! Rather, the objective is to shed light on a different type of pandemic affecting both adults and children: sedentary lifestyles coupled with poor diets are ravaging our collective heart health.
Information about the heart
The American Heart Association provides a layman’s explanation for how the heart works. First, the heart is a muscle that sits in your chest, tilted slightly to the left. Perhaps the biggest difference between your heart and all the other muscles in your body is that the heart never rests!
The AHA describes the heart like this: “The heart is made up of four rooms or chambers. The two right chambers receive blood from all over the body and pump that blood to the lungs where it picks up oxygen and drops off waste from organs and other cells. Once oxygen-rich blood leaves the lungs, it goes to the chambers on the left side of the heart where it is pumped back out to body.”
It is important to have a basic understanding of how the heart works so that you can comprehend how heart disease may attack the body. Heart disease or cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a health condition that stops the heart or blood vessels from working properly. When the heart is working properly, blood is pumping and circulating around the body freely. If there is a clog in our blood vessels or if our heart is not pumping blood properly, this prevents blood from being delivered to many important parts of our body. Not having blood constantly delivered to the many important parts of our body can cause serious illness or even death. CVD results most often from poor lifestyle choices, such as eating unhealthily or not getting enough exercise.
Keeping your heart healthy
Though genetics do play a role in our health, diet and exercise are two pillars of a healthy lifestyle. While it may appear children do not listen to parental words of wisdom, they most certainly pay close attention to your actions. Modeling a healthy lifestyle goes a long way to encouraging your child to adopt a similar path.
What else can you do to promote a healthy heart in children? Here are some suggestions from Children’s Health:
- Keep moving
Pick activities that the family can do together. Go for a bike ride on a local bike path or take a walk around the neighborhood. The CDC recommends children get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise every day.
- Limit screen time
As referenced above, children are on computers during school for the most of the day. Too much screen time often is accompanied by munching on unhealthy snacks. Set limits of TV and video games. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 60 minutes per day during the week and 2 hours per day on weekends.
- Go to the grocery store together
In addition to feeding the family healthy food choices, bring the kids along to the market. Teach them to read food labels and that a proper diet includes whole grains, low fat dairy products, fish, poultry, and nuts. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has an excellent summary of nutritional information.
- Drink water
About 60% of our body weight is made up of water, which we require for every single body function. While each person’s needs are slightly different based on things such as age and activity level, WebMD suggests children drink about 6 to 8 cups (48 to 64 ounces) of water a day. Water. Not juice, not Gatorade. Gulping down water helps eliminate waste, regulate body temperature, and protect vital tissues.
- Stay involved
In addition to monitoring your child’s diet while they are in your home, ensure they continue to eat a healthy diet at school. Your child will trade their kale chips for their friend’s sea salt and vinegar chips – in fairness, who wouldn’t?! So, communicate with your child about the importance of adhering to the food you send them into school with. Additionally, consult with the pediatrician to make sure they are monitoring cardiovascular indicators such as BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
Final thoughts
Hearts tend to pop up all over the place in February: candy hearts, heart shaped pendants, and heart decorations in stores and businesses all promoting love in its various and beautiful forms. As you are celebrating the ones you love, don’t forget the most important hearts of all: those beating in your loved ones’ chests. Being intentional with your food choices and keeping active are two ways to promote a healthy ticker in each family member.
Engage the Brain encourages all of our families to eat healthily and adopt an active lifestyle.