Milan Heart Week is back, here is the heart-saving decalogue

The Heart Week promoted by the Monzino Cardiology Center is back in Milan. The Night Run Monzino, scheduled for Saturday, September 14, starting at 7:00 p.m. in CityLife, will kick off the seventh edition of the Milan Heart Week. The agenda includes a week of free events open to the public on cardiovascular prevention and heart health (for a list of events, click on www.milanoheartweek.it), which will revolve around World Heart Day, scheduled for September 29. For the occasion, the Monzino experts are launching the Decalogue of Cardiovascular Prevention.

Here are the 10 rules developed by the IRCCS doctors based on international scientific literature: “10 simple recommendations extracted from the most advanced research that, if followed systematically, would drastically reduce the incidence of heart disease and related mortality”, assure the specialists.

1. Avoid smoking in any form and at any age; 2. Do physical activity: movement is like a medicine; 3. Adopt a healthy and balanced diet. The Mediterranean diet is always recommended; 4. Control your salt intake. Do not exceed 5 grams per day and be careful of hidden salt in products; 5. Do not overdo it with sugar. The level of sugar in the blood (glycemia) is important for the heart; 6. Fight stress with activities that relax us the most and distance us from negative thoughts; 7. Practice good mood therapy regularly. The ideal is to laugh for 15 minutes a day; 8. Become aware of the importance of sleep and create a goodnight routine; 9. Perform the recommended check-ups for your age and state of health; 10. For women: consult a cardiologist when menopause approaches. There is a special check-up for you.

“Prevention is the best cure for cardiovascular disease”, is the message of the Milan Heart Week. “A cure without drugs or interventions – they underline from Monzino – that gives us well-being and tranquility”. Each event scheduled during the Milan Heart Week is therefore proposed as “a moment of awareness and an invitation to adopt the correct behaviors: exercise, follow a correct diet, dedicate ourselves to activities that amuse us and reduce stress levels, but also listen to your body and know the individual risk to protect your heart and stay fit”.

“We are living in the golden age of cardiology – says Giulio Pompilio, scientific director of Monzino – but progress is not only about interventions or cutting-edge techniques. Today we know much more about risk factors, that is, what can make us sick, and above all we know how to measure them and keep them under control. This is the silent revolution of prevention, which could rapidly change the face of heart disease and ensure that we are no longer afraid of them. But the revolution will not be successful – warns the specialist – without the participation of the population, which still has to be convinced that prevention is an easy and pleasant choice. Our Decalogue wants to make a contribution in this direction, providing a valuable handbook for heart health”.