Growing the Voices of Our Future
The Westside Gazette Newspaper is honored to feature these editorial contributions made by local students.
By Layla Davidson
February is National Heart Month. A time when the nation focuses on heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first proclamation in 1964, among the millions of people in the country who had suffered heart attacks. Since then, U.S. presidents have designated February as American Heart Month. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people delayed or avoided going to hospitals for heart attacks and strokes. Meanwhile, heart disease remains the most serious health threat to Americans and the leading cause of death worldwide. Which was published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation, nearly 18.6 million people died from cardiovascular disease worldwide in 2019. This represents a 17.1% increase over the last decade. Furthermore, 523.2 million cases of cardiovascular disease were reported in 2019, representing a 26.6% increase over 2010. In most cases, heart disease can be avoided by adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, controlling blood sugar and cholesterol, treating high blood pressure, engaging in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, and getting regular checkups.
