Don’t miss a beat – get your heart health checked this May
The Heart Foundation and Murray Bridge Medical Centre encourage you to consider your heart health during the next month.
This sponsored story is brought to you by Murray Bridge Medical Centre.
How healthy is your heart?
The Heart Foundation and Murray Bridge Medical Centre can help you find out during the next month.
May 5-11 is Heart Week, a time each year to think about your heart health and reduce your risk of heart disease.
After all, it’s the leading cause of death in Australia.
The good news is that healthy behaviours – healthy eating, being active, maintaining a healthy weight and being smoke-free – can protect you.
How do you know if you’re at risk of heart disease?
A 20-minute heart health check can give you a much better idea.
Clinics around the country will be offering the checks, which are often bulk billed to Medicare, over the coming weeks.
You should be eligible for a check if you are:
- Aged 45 and over
- Aged 35 and over if you are living with diabetes
- Aged 30 and over if you are Indigenous
A GP or nurse will check your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and will ask you questions about your medical and family history and lifestyle.
A calculator will then tell you whether you have a low, intermediate or high risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke over the next five years.
The GP or nurse can then help you make a plan to lower your risk, through medication, lifestyle changes or other support.
Murray Bridge Medical Centre practice manager Wendy Ziersch said many regular patients could expect to receive a text message invitation to get a heart health check over the next few weeks.
She hoped members of the agricultural community, in particular, would take up the offer.
“You can feel the pressure rising within our farming community, with the drought and how it has taken its toll,” she said.
“We’re all hoping for rain soon … and for our farmers to feel well in themselves and have that spirit again.
“But you don’t have to have symptoms to have higher blood pressure, so it’s a good idea to have these sorts of things checked on a regular basis, especially if people are going through stress or they’re not physically or mentally looking after themselves.”
Alternatively, you can get some idea about the amount of wear and tear on your heart by using the heart age calculator at www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-week.
A three-minute quiz, designed for people aged 35-75 who do not currently have heart disease, can estimate your individual risk based on factors like your age, sex, blood pressure and cholesterol.
- Book a heart health check: Visit www.murraybridgemedical.com.au, call 8531 2988 or visit Murray Bridge Medical Centre at 35-37 Adelaide Road, Murray Bridge from 8am-6pm on weekdays, 8am-9pm on Wednesdays, or 9am-4pm on Saturdays; or contact your own GP.
- More information: www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-week.
