Category: Heart Sisters

– posts here focus on general topics about women and heart disease

Why all the fuss over cardiac endorsement of Nintendo Wii video games?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

  

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

The first time I played Wii video/fitness games over at my daughter’s house was memorable.  We laughed nonstop while we were boxing, river rafting, hula-hooping and ski-jumping in her living room, and were both huffing, puffing and sweating after an hour with the Wii console. Have you tried it yet?

Next morning, my shoulders and arms (my main boxing muscles, I would guess) were so sore I could barely lift my coffee cup.  This was a sure sign that I’d been getting a great workout, while having heaps of fun.

The American Heart Association thinks it’s a great cardiac workout, too.  In fact, the AHA has entered into a “strategic relationship” with Nintendo to endorse its Wii video game system, saying that active-play video games like Wii can be part of a healthy lifestyle.  The Wii gaming console, the Wii Fit Plus, and the Wii Sports Resort will all carry the AHA’s seal of approval.

So what could be wrong with this new AHA endorsement on such a swell product? It was the TV show Good Morning America that first raised the alarm over the partnership.  Continue reading “Why all the fuss over cardiac endorsement of Nintendo Wii video games?” →

Does getting older mean getting happier?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

It is inevitable. The muscles weaken. Hearing and vision fade. We get wrinkled and stooped. We can’t run, or even walk, as fast as we used to. We have aches and pains in parts of our bodies we never even noticed before.  We develop chronic, progressive illnesses like heart disease.  We get old.

It sounds miserable, but apparently it is not. According to the New York Times, a large U.S. survey of over 340,000 people aged 18-85 has found that by almost any measure, people get happier as they get older, and researchers are not sure why.

The Times reported that in the study’s global measure of well-being, people start out at age 18 feeling pretty good about themselves.  But then, apparently, life begins to throw curve balls. They feel worse and worse until they hit 50. At that point, there is a sharp reversal, and people keep getting happier as they age. By the time they are 85, they are even more satisfied with themselves than they were at 18.  Continue reading “Does getting older mean getting happier?” →

Last chance to apply for the WomenHeart Symposium at Mayo Clinic

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ Leave a comment

 Are you a woman who has survived a cardiac event, and is at least six months past your last hospitalization? Do you have a burning desire to learn more about heart disease – our #1 killer – and then to help educate others about their own heart health? If your answers are YES, then I urge you to apply to attend this once-in-a-lifetime training opportunity for women at the world famous Mayo Clinic.  This year’s application deadline has passed (June 18th) but please consider applying for next year’s training.  Here are the basics:

  • Who:    Women diagnosed with any form of heart disease
  • What:  Annual WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium
  • When:  October (around the Columbus Day / Canadian Thanksgiving weekend)
  • Where:  Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.A.
  • Why:  To educate and empower each woman heart patient participant to take charge of her own heart health and to train her as a community educator, outreach specialist, and spokeswoman for WomenHeart

 Here’s the application for 2010 from WomenHeart with everything you need to know about the Symposium. 

Questions? Contact the always-helpful and charming Joanna Eisman at WomenHeart: The National Coalition For Women With Heart Disease, either by e-mail at  jeisman@womenheart.org or by telephone at (202) 464-8741.  And tell her that Carolyn Thomas sent you!

See also Going To Mayo Clinic for more about my own life-altering experience at the fabulous 2008 WomenHeart Symposium – what I like to call part world-class cardiology training and part community activism bootcamp!  And WomenHeart’s Mayo Clinic Symposium Featured In Time Magazine.

And please forward this on to any women you know who might qualify for this amazing adventure at Mayo Clinic.

 

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Women’s heart health advice: “Walk often, walk far!”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

If you are one of those misguided sods who still believe in the exercise axiom: “No pain, no gain”  – you can stop reading right now.  The rest of you – rejoice!  According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, taking a long daily walk may be a better way to improve heart health, lose weight and feel better compared to shorter periods of more strenuous  exercise.

A randomized controlled clinical trial funded by the NHLBI compared two exercise programs for heart attack survivors:

  • 1.  Standard cardiac rehab exercise:  25-40 minutes of exercise three times per week at approximately 65-75% peak aerobic capacity. This included 25 minutes of treadmill walking and 8 minutes on 2 to 3 ergometers: cycle, rowing, or arm.
  • 2.  High-calorie expenditure exercise: longer duration but lower intensity,  more frequent exercise (45-60 minute sessions, but at just 50-60% peak aerobic capacity, 5-7 times per week).

Walking, rather than weight-supported exercises (such as cycling or rowing), was preferred to maximize calorie expenditure, which was targeted at 3,000-3,500 calories per week. The protocol was essentially to “walk often and walk far.”  All heart patients studied were considered overweight before starting the program. Each subject  also received 16 hours of group dietary counseling, and were given a target goal of consuming 500 calories per day less than their predicted maintenance calories.

What did their results show?  Continue reading “Women’s heart health advice: “Walk often, walk far!”” →