Celebrating Love in February: The Importance of Heart Health

Celebrating Love in February: The Importance of Heart Health

February 14 is celebrated all over the world as Valentine’s day, which is the day to celebrate love in many forms. On this day, you will notice all the heart-shaped candies, gifts, and balloons. What many people may not know is that February is also Heart health awareness month. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC)

I did some research that heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women in the United States. According to CDC data, one person dies from heart disease every 36 seconds. Approximately 659,000 people in the United States die from heart disease each year. It is at least 1 in every 4 deaths. 

The most common heart disease in the United States is coronary heart disease. In the year 2019, coronary heart disease killed 360,900 people. There have been 18.2 million adults of the age 20 years old and over who have coronary heart disease. In every 40 seconds in the United States, someone has a heart attack. In the United States, 805,000 people every year have a heart attack, and about 1 out 5 adults have a silent heart attack (CDC).

American adults who are at risk of heart disease are adults who have diabetes, overweight or obese, lack physical activity, and consume too much alcohol (CDC).

There are ways to prevent yourself from having heart disease. You need to choose to consume healthy food and drink, get physically active every day, keep a healthy weight, do not smoke, check your cholesterol, check your blood pressure, manage your diabetes, take your medication as directed by your doctor, and visit your doctor regularly (CDC).

The Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. provides one program that is focused on addressing heart health in the community. Called the Healthy Heart, this program is aimed at reducing the disparities in health outcomes caused by heart diseases. GHEP hopes that this program, for example, helps to create awareness of health diseases disparities and also gives people the opportunity to get to understand their risk factors for heart disease by offering community-based brief screening and interventions. You can read more about Healthy Heart on GHEP’s website. 

Personally, I had been overweight and had a poor diet most of my childhood and teen years. Ever since I switched to exercising at least 5 days out of the week and maintaining a healthy diet, I felt healthier than I did in my childhood and teen years. It is important to listen to your body and get the help that you need (CDC). This is to wish you a happy healthy heart month while also celebrating the month of love–Valentine’s Day.


Written By Chelsea Whittington is a volunteer with the Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. working under the mentorship of Kanisha Blake, BS, MPH.  


References

American Heart Month | NHLBI, NIH

Prevent Heart Disease | cdc.gov

How Much Do You Know About Stuttering as a Speech Disruption?

How Much Do You Know About Stuttering as a Speech Disruption?

October is the month of harvest and the celebration of Halloween. It’s a month full of thrills, chills, and tricks or treats. There is also a special day, that is unknown to people, which is an international stuttering awareness day, which is October 22nd.

Stuttering is a speech disorder that repeats syllables, sounds, or words. There are even interruptions with words or sounds called blocks. It also can include behaviors such as eye blinking, tremors, or quivering lips. Unfortunately, this affects job interviews, socializing, and communications. It could affect the person immediately, which is to feel anxious when speaking to people, speaking in front of an audience, or speaking on the phone. (National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders).

I did some research and found out how many people have this issue growing up. Approximately, 3 million Americans have an issue with stuttering. It affects people in different age groups. It often occurs during the age of 2 to 6 years old, which is the age when children start to learn their language skills. About 5 percent to 10 percent of children will have the issue of stuttering throughout most of their life. About 75 percent of children can learn to control their issues with stuttering, while the other 25 percent will have the issue of stuttering for the rest of their lives. (NIH)

There are two types of stuttering, there are development stuttering and neurological stuttering. Developmental stuttering comes from the child’s language abilities and is unable to meet with the child’s verbal speech. While neurological stuttering occurs from a stroke, head trauma, or a head injury. There are many different ways to help with your issues of stuttering, these include therapy for children, stuttering therapy, drug therapy, electronic devices, and self-help groups. (NIH)

Understandably, that growing up with a speech issue is quite frustrating and it can even affect your self-confidence. I grew up with a stuttering issue, and I had been dealing with it for most of my life. It is mainly because of my anxiety that influences my way of speaking. What had helped me is seeing a speech therapist. I also resorted to seeing a counselor and seeking medication for my anxiety, which has helped my stuttering issue tremendously. What also helped me is to speak a little slower and more clearly to avoid stuttering. Do not let the issues with stuttering conflict with your socializing skills with others, it is quite normal, and affects everyone. (NIH)


Written By Chelsea Whittington is a volunteer with the Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. working under the mentorship of Kanisha Blake, BS, MPH.  


References

NIH, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Stuttering

Lead And Your Health: Beyond Childhood

Lead And Your Health: Beyond Childhood

Many people often have trouble carrying on with their day-to-day exposure to lead. Over the past years, there has been some progress on reducing exposure to lead. However, there are some people that have to deal with lead in their communities. I took it upon myself to do a little more research on lead and I came across this article from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) that discusses the association between exposure to lead and poor health. After reading this article, I have learned a lot on how lead can impact our human health. The findings are intriguing and so I wanted to share widely.

Lead is a metal that is found deep in the ground and is found in small amounts, like silver, zinc, or copper. Lead can be identified in the soil, old homes, household dust, drinking water, pottery, airplane fuels, toys, and inexpensive metal jewelry. Lead can enter the body through inhaling or eating it. As we may all know, children are mostly to get exposed to lead because they like to put anything in their mouths. Currently, there is an approximately 4 million households that have children that are exposed to high levels of lead. There are half a million U.S. children between the ages of 1 and 5 with blood lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter, which is the government-prescribed minimum lead level.

Being exposed to lead can cause numerous health issues, such as nerve disorders, decreased kidney function, cardiovascular issues, and fertility issues. The magnitude of these health issues is a more reason why I think we should all try to stay clear of lead at our homes or any other building. There are medications that can help people have lead in their bodies, but are not recommended to children that have a blood lead level lower than 45 micrograms per deciliter.

Nonetheless, there are many ways that you can use to prevent your family from being exposed to lead. These include:

  • Avoid storing food in imported pottery and dishware;
  • Observe any recall toys and jewelry by visiting the consumer product safety commission; and
  • Call the local health department about any lead that may be in the paint, dust, or drinking water that may be in your home.

Learning about lead and the impact it can have on a person’s health is important because it can create awareness of this issue and teach people on how to handle these types of situations when it occurs. This article was informative. I hope you find it informative too and may have learned one or two ways in which you can protect lead exposure and protection from its effects.

For more information, take a look at what we are doing at the Health, Environmental Education and Awareness (HEEA) program. At the HEEA day, we educate members of our community on the relationship between the environment and public health. Experts share nuggets of life-saving health and environment information in a joyful and entertaining atmosphere.

While doing the research for this article, I can tell you one thing: human health is rather truly complex. But there is hope. One way to achieve hope is to obtain and empower ourselves with the latest information and research on different health conditions is important for protecting your health. There are a lot of valuable information published by health care providers, researchers and other experts from around the world. You can read this free and updated information on health issues affecting mothers, women, children and families online at the International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and HIV/AIDS. You can also read other interesting articles on public health, medical research, and how research is changing our lives at IJTRansmed.

You can read more at www.niehs.nih.gov; here at https://globalhealthprojects.org/programs/environment/heea-program/ or at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/default.htm or https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls

*At the time of writing, Ms. Kanisha Blake, MPH (Epidemiology) was a public health intern at the Global Health and Education Projects, Washington, DC, USA, under the mentorship and supervision of Dr. Romuladus E. Azuine.

Asthma And Its Environmental Triggers

Asthma And Its Environmental Triggers

Growing up as a child in urban area in Maryland, I would often see many children my age experience asthma and the agony that comes with it. Personally, I do not have asthma, so I do not know first-hand how it feels to wake up in the middle of the night with an asthma attack that causes the muscles around the airways to tighten up. While browsing through the internet, I found an article that was published by experts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) here in the United States on asthma and how it is associated with the environment. I thought I should share here because I believe that this would help me and others that do not have asthma understand asthma and what people that do have the disease go through on a daily basis.

Asthma is a disease that impacts the lungs. The symptoms can include coughing, chest tightness, breathing problems, and wheezing. People with asthma can experience the muscle around their airways tighten up and the symptoms can get worse. Asthma is considered a chronic disorder in childhood. It affects about 40 million people. With good information and management, people with asthma can live healthy lives. But they need to know the triggers and try to avoid those triggers to the best of their abilities.

Having asthma running in the family can increase the chance of a child developing asthma. Different substances in the environment can activate asthma. These substances include dogs, cats, molds, fungi, dust mites, and cockroaches. The National Survey of Lead Hazard and Allergens reported 46 percent of homes contain dust mites that can cause an allergic reaction and 25 percent of homes had high levels of allergen levels that can cause an asthma attack to occur. Learning about asthma can increase the awareness to others on how to create symptom-free days for people with asthma. This can also allow researchers to develop methods or techniques on how to eliminate this issues that are affecting many children.

For more information, I encourage you to take a look at what we are doing at the Health, Environmental Education and Awareness (HEEA) program. At the HEEA day, we educate members of our community on the relationship between the environment and public health. Experts share nuggets of life-saving health and environment information in a joyful and entertaining atmosphere.

I can tell you that human health is truly complex. But there is hope. Obtaining and empowering ourselves with the latest information and research on different health conditions is important for protecting your health. There are a lot of valuable information published by health care providers, researchers and other experts from around the world. You can read free and updated information on health issues affecting mothers, women, children and families and other health issues at the International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and HIV/AIDS. You can also read other interesting articles on public health, medical research, and how research is changing our lives at our online public health publication called IJTRansmed.

Useful links:
www.niehs.nih.gov
www.globalhealthprojects.org/programs/environment/heea-program/


*At the time of writing, Ms. Kanisha Blake, MPH (Epidemiology) was a public health intern at the Global Health and Education Projects, Washington, DC, USA, under the mentorship and supervision of Dr. Romuladus E. Azuine.