| |
Tackling the
obesity timebomb
Lifestyle Health Check
Self-help programme
Weight Concern
summer 08 newsletter
Children's
treatment trial
Training
Appear in new BBC
series for children
Adult's Body Mass
Index (BMI)
calculator
Get more active |
 |
| More about weight and coronary heart disease |
People with excess body fat, particularly fat carried around the middle,
(technically called central adiposity/obesity), are more likely to develop heart disease. The bigger the
waist, the higher the risk.
- For women, a healthy waist measurement is less than 32 inches / 80 centimetres.
- For men, a healthy waist measurement is less than 37 inches / 94 centimetres.
It does not matter how tall you are, how muscular or how 'big-boned', none of these affect the validity
of waist measurements in predicting risk of coronary heart disease.
- It is estimated that more than 6,000 deaths a year from coronary heart disease are due to obesity.
- Excess weight raises blood pressure and increases hormones which affect the development of heart disease.
- Most overweight people have high levels of LDL, the harmful type of cholesterol, and lower levels of HDL, which is a type of cholesterol that is good for you.
- If you are overweight or obese, by losing as little 10% of your weight you can lower the risk of heart disease.
Even if you are happy with your weight, taking regular exercise will help protect your health:
- physical activity reduces the risk of developing coronary heart disease
- among people who have heart attacks, those who have been physically active are twice as likely to survive the heart
attack compared to people who have not been active
- physical activity as part of a rehabilitation programme reduces the risk of dying after a heart attack by 20%
Weight Concern recommends that you should try and take vigorous exercise at least five days a week for 30 minutes.
Vigorous exercise means something that leaves you slightly breathless and it does not have to be all taken at once,
it can be taken in two 15 minute periods.
For more information on coronary heart disease, visit the British Heart Foundation or the American Heart Association
website.
Links: |
|
British Heart Foundation
American Heart Association
More about weight and cancer
More about weight and diabetes
More about osteoarthritis
More about weight and stroke
|
|
Support our work
Subscribe
The Big Panel
Shape-Up
Shape-Up is an innovative lifestyle programme to help you manage your weight,
improve your health and enhance your quality of life.
click here. |
Become a Friend
|
