http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/hasf-slc101811.phpPublic release date: 21-Oct-2011
Contact: Amanda Bates
amanda@curvecommunications.com
604-306-0027
http://www.heartandstroke.ca/">Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Simple lifestyle changes can add a decade or more healthy years to the average lifespan
Sharpened focus on prevention strategies would save billions of dollars in heath costs
Vancouver − Health prevention strategies to help Canadians achieve their optimal health potential could add a decade or more of healthy years to the average lifespan and save the economy billions of dollars as a result of reduced cardiovascular disease, says noted cardiologist Dr. Clyde Yancy.
Dr. Yancy, who will deliver the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada Lecture at the opening ceremonies of the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver this Sunday, will tell delegates that people who follow seven simple steps to a healthy life can expect to live an additional 40 to 50 years after the age of 50.
"Achieving these seven simple lifestyle factors gives people a 90 per cent chance of living to the age of 90 or 100, free of not only heart disease and stroke but from a number of other chronic illnesses including cancer," says Dr. Yancy, a professor of medicine and chief of cardiology at the Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. He is also the past-president of the American Heart Association.
"By following these steps, we can compress life-threatening disease into the final stages of life and maintain quality of life for the longest possible time." He predicts that, if we act now, we can reverse the tide by 2020.
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