LEXINGTON, KY 40506
February 2008
YOU
YOUth
th Health
Bulletin
Cooperative Extension
Service
(Your) County
Address
City, State & Zip
Phone: (000) 000-0000
www.ca.uky.edu/hes/?p=6
How to keep your
Heart Healthy
When we think of February we think of Valentines
Day. But, this month is also Healthy Heart Month.
Let’s celebrate February in a different way by learning
about your heart and how to keep it healthy.
The heart is a muscle that
pumps blood. This blood
contains nutrients our
bodies need to keep us
healthy. These nutrients
are carried throughout
the body in special tubes
called blood vessels.
Learning how to keep
our hearts healthy make
sure we stay healthy.
Some things you can do
to keep your heart
healthy are to eat right,
become active, and do
not smoke. Follow these
simple steps for your
heart:
bles you eat each day
and decreasing the
amount of fats and salt
you eat each day. Work
with your parents to learn
how to read food labels
which tell you about the
nutrition value of the
food you are eating. Become a good role model
for your parents to follow
by eating a balanced diet
to keep you and your
family healthy.
Becoming active means
increasing the amount of
time you spend up and
moving and decreasing the
Eating a balanced diet
amount of time
includes increasyou spend in
ing the amount of
front of the T.V.
fruits and vegetaor computer. Since it is
winter time outdoor activities may be limited.
You can move inside by
playing games, dancing,
or doing exercises. Outside you can jump rope,
run, walk, or play outdoor
games. The important
thing is to GET UP AND
GET MOVING!!
Do not smoke.
Smoking cigarettes can lead to
heart disease.
Smoking causes the
blood vessels in the body
to become smaller making it harder for blood to
flow through. If your parents smoke encourage
them to stop by teaching
them about keeping their
heart healthy.
Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or
national origin. UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, AND
KENTUCKY COUNTIES, COOPERATING.
Amazing Heart Facts
The heart pumps about 1 million barrels of blood during an average lifetime---that’s enough to fill more than 3 supertankers.
Your body has about 6 quarts of blood. These 6 quarts of blood circulates through your body every 3 minutes. In one day the blood travels a
total of 12,000 miles---that’s four times the distance across the U.S. from
coast to coast.
The aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body is almost the diameter of
a garden hose. Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels. It takes about
ten of them to be the size of a hair.
Give a tennis ball a good, hard squeeze. You are using the same amount
of force the heart uses to pump blood out to the body.
Your heart beats about 100,000 times each day and about 35 million
times in a year. In an average lifetime your heart will beat more than 2.5
billion times.
Heart Health
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Sources
American Heart Association (2007) Children’s Health.
Available online at http://www.americanheart.org.
U.K. Cooperative Extension, Universe of Possibilities™--Heart Intelligence (2006). Available online at
http://www.ca.uky.edu/fcs/possibilities/index.htm.
The February 2008 YOUth Health Bulletin was prepared by: Peggy Riley RN, MSN, Extension Specialist for Nursing.
The development of the HEEL program was made possible by Senator Mitch McConnell with funds earmarked for the University of Kentucky,
College of Agriculture, Lexington, KY and budgeted through the CSREES/USDA Federal Administration.