This St Valentine's Day you could decide to love yourself wisely - for your heart's sake, writes Anne Dempsey
Exhortations to undergo a change of heart today may concentrate on the romantic benefits of melting a hard heart into tenderness, or toughening up hearts too soft for their own good. But another change of heart will benefit too. Adopting healthier habits now could reduce risk of heart disease later.
Cardiovascular disease is Ireland's greatest killer. In 2004 more than 10,500 men and women died from such ills, including stroke and circulatory diseases.
According to the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF), a 40-year-old male smoker with high blood pressure/cholesterol has a 4 per cent 10-year risk of a fatal heart attack. Without lifestyle change, this increases to 14 per cent at age 50, and 22 per cent at age 55, placing him in a high risk category - with the stakes further increased if there is a family history of heart attack at an early age.
While we can't choose our family, we can choose how we live. This St Valentine's Day you could decide to love yourself wisely - for your heart's sake.
Dr Brian Maurer, IHF's medical director, says there are people aged 20-40 with sick hearts who don't realise it.
"The seeds of hardening of the arteries are laid early in life, particularly in the teens and 20s," he says.
Distinction between the genders is now more blurred than before.
"Women tend to present at older ages, but now that women's lifestyles have altered to include smoking and work stress, women are today contracting heart disease at the same rate as men.
"One quote from the late US surgeon Elliot Koop puts it well. He said 'women who smoke like men, die like men who smoke'."
With a family history of heart disease, Paul Moran, 47, stopped smoking at age 20 and spent that decade playing junior league soccer in north Dublin, training or swimming five days a week, with matches at the weekend.
Big and fit, he weighed 13½ stone and ate everything put in front of him. Then aged 31 he slipped a disc on the pitch and had to discontinue contact sports. "It was a terrible blow. I continued swimming for a while, but all exercise was geared to playing and with that gone, I lost motivation."
Between age 30 and 40, his weight crept up to 16½ stone.
"When I saw the photographs of my 40th birthday party, I was taken aback, began to walk, but didn't keep it up. I enjoyed a drink. I would have six pints with friends each Thursday, eight pints at the weekend, and a bottle of wine sometimes at home with a meal."
Last year Paul began to notice he was sleeping longer. He would also drop off in the chair at home, was disinclined to exercise and tipped the scales at 17 stone. Out for a July Sunday evening stroll with his wife, Patsy, he experienced chest pain, came home and went to bed.
"Next morning Patsy insisted I go to the doctor, who put me on blood thinners and referred me for a hospital appointment. Mind you, when he gave me his mobile number I got a bit worried!"
Paul got an appointment for that Thursday but on Wednesday morning he woke to a heart attack. "I thought Patsy had her arm across my chest, then heard her in the shower. I couldn't breathe, couldn't speak and was brought to hospital by ambulance but later discharged."
The next day when undergoing a stress test previously booked at the Mater Hospital, he experienced pain between his shoulder blades. An angiogram revealed 100 per cent blockage of a major heart artery which was treated successfully by inserting two stents.
Then a lifestyle audit began. "The hospital dietician changed my diet. She took me off cheese, fries were to go, red meat intake reduced, pints gone. Now I eat a lot of chicken, fish, vegetables, brown bread, drink non-fat milk, a little red wine, and I was put on an exercise programme.
"I've lost 2½ stone. One of the most helpful things has been the Mater's cardiac rehabilitation programme. After the heart attack, I'd been frightened about taking exercise, but I've now learnt to monitor what's happening in my body. I exercise in the hospital gym, walk regularly and feel really healthy.
"My weight had been creeping up without necessarily being noticed by me or the family. If someone you haven't met for a while remarks that you've put on weight, take notice of it.
"In some ways I feel as well as I felt in my mid-20s, I've been given a second chance and I really appreciate it."I've been given a second chance and I really appreciate it