Held each year on 29th September, World Heart Day is organised by the World Heart Federation and is supported by UEFA and Healthy Stadia. Working together with the European football family, we can all make a significant contribution to reducing premature mortality and disability caused by CVD.
The campaign theme for World Heart Day 2017 is: Share the Power. Heart health is at the heart of all health.
When you look after your heart it means eating and drinking well, exercising, stopping smoking… all the things that make you not only healthier, but also feel good and able to enjoy your life to the fullest. If you don’t look after your heart you are putting yourself at risk of CVD, which includes heart disease and stroke, and accounts for over 17.5 million premature deaths each year.
We want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to live a longer, better, heart-healthy life. Together with World Heart Federation and UEFA, we are asking individuals and organisations, to consider making the following changes so you can Share the Power:
- Move Your Heart: maintain an active lifestyle, aiming for at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity five times per week for adults, and 1 hour per day for children – playing football is a great way to achieve this, but think about incorporating walking and cycling into your daily routines
- Fuel Your Heart: adopt a healthier diet that is high in fruit and vegetables and lower in fat, salt and sugar; moderate your intake of alcohol over the course of the week
- Love Your Heart: for individuals to seek professional support in attempting to quit smoking and for organisations to maintain a Smokefree environment to protect against second-hand smoke
Share your healthy heart tips and heart selfies: Help to Share the Power by uploading your healthy heart tips on photo or videos to the World Heart Day’s Heart Health Wall or simply take a Healthy Heart Selfie and share it on social media using the hashtag #WorldHeartDay
Take the Heart IQ test: Heart IQ is a short online quiz that asks you 8 questions about heart health and gives you a score based on how much you know. At the end of the quiz you can either share your score or a Healthy Heart Selfie. Take the test at: http://worldheartday.org/
To find out more about World Heart Day please visit the website: http://worldheartday.org/
Photo: Copyright © Paul Zammit Cutajar