OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — It's American Heart Month and 3 News Now's Zach Williamson is spending it on the road with American Heart Association Nebraska's Executive Director Chris Shives to talk all things heart health.
Shives has been with the American Heart Association (AHA) for 14 years. He says American Heart Month is all about raising awareness of heart disease — the number one cause of death in the US. It's also the number one killer in women, though only 49 percent of Americans know it is.
He tells us that knowing your numbers is extremely important in keeping yourself safe and healthy. The main numbers to know and track are your blood pressure, body weight, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Shives said there's a scary trend that by 2050 we could be looking at two-thirds of Americans having high blood pressure.
The four behaviors the AHA says is key to avoiding heart disease is not smoking, getting more sleep, being physically active, and eating a nutritious diet.
Another big topic during American Heart Month is CPR. Shives says 70 percent of the time somebody goes down and needs CPR it happens at home. So the life of your loved one could be in your hands. You can find a CPR training course near you by clicking here.
The AHA n also offers CPR anytime kits that they distribute throughout the community that you and your family can use at practice. Find those, and great information regarding heart health, by clicking here.
Shives says the chance of survival for someone needing CPR goes down ten percent for every minute before chest compressions are started. He tells us, the survival rate currently is about nine percent. The AHA's goal is to double that by 2030, and the only way to do so is for more people to learn CPR.
