An Aberdeen medical director is urging people to ‘Be Your Own Valentine’ by prioritising their own heart health.
Dr Louise Slaney, of International Medical Management (IMM), regularly carries out tests that have picked up silent heart issues that, if left untreated, could have led to a heart attack.
IMM uses a validated risk tool that analyses blood results, lifestyle factors such as weight, smoking, family history etc, and an ECG which traces the electrical activity in the heart and can pick up anomalies.
On Valentine’s Day, it’s crucial to remember it’s not all about flowers and romantic gestures. Let’s also think of it as an opportunity to consider the most important heart there is… your own! Be your own Valentine!
Dr Louise Slaney, IMM medical director, said: “Our lifestyle / executive medicals gather a whole picture of health on individuals by taking a medical history, undertaking a clinical examination, and investigations such as blood tests and heart tracings. Once we have all the results, we use a validated tool to give a score, and this tells us the person’s risk of having a heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years. A high-risk score would be more than 20%.
“Last year, we had a 35-year-old man last year who had a score of 24%. That was shocking for him. We were able to show him that by losing a certain amount of weight, improving his diet, seeing his GP for cholesterol-lowering medication, blood pressure medication and stopping smoking could lower the risks significantly. Within a year he had addressed these issues, and his follow up score had gone down to as little as 2%.
“Most people are unaware just how high their risk is. It can be very sobering to see in black and white that there is a high chance that over the next 10 years you will suffer a heart attack or a stroke. But the good news is that many of the risk factors that form part of the score are potentially reversible.”
Dr Slaney wants to see a change in approach to healthcare. She added: “For years we have concentrated on diagnosing disease and then treating it, but if we are to successfully navigate this next chapter of healthcare – and save our health service – we need to focus on prevention.”
Here are some preventative measures you can take to improve your heart health, summarised by the British Heart Foundation:
- Keep active – proven to boost energy, sleep and quality of life
- Maintain a healthy weight and diet – helping your overall health and preventing extra strain on your heart
- Limit how much alcohol you drink (less than the recommended 14 units per week)
- Stop smoking and using other tobacco products
- Control high blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood sugar levels (if you have diabetes)
IMM offers an extensive range of occupational health services that can make a difference to the health, wellbeing and productivity of an organisation’s staff.
