Experts at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) are using the motto “Less is best” in discussions with patients about alcohol and heart health.
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According to Statistics Canada, 23% of Canadians aged 15 and older (an estimated 6.7 million people) reported most days were either ‘quite a bit’ or ‘extremely stressful’. Stress is the mind and body’s response to a perceived threat or stressor, triggering the instinct known as the fight-or-flight...
Obesity rates have grown to such an extent over the past several years that normal-weight individuals are now a minority in Canada. The problem gets worse with age: 16 per cent of adults ages 20 to 39 are obese, while fully one-third, or 33 per cent, of their counter-parts ages 60 to 79 fit that...
Oily fish is widely recommended as part of a heart-healthy diet, based in part on a landmark study from the 1970s. In it, Danish researchers Hans Olaf Bang and Jørn Dyerberg connected the low incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) among the Inuit of Greenland (referred to as Eskimos in the study...
Within weeks of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs around the world suspended in-person services due to social distancing measures put in place to help flatten the curve. Considering the unprecedented disruption to the delivery of traditional CR delivered at...
The Canada Food Guide received its first update in more than a decade earlier this year. Gone are the food groups and portion sizes. The new message for Canadians is clear: eat more plant-based proteins, and less meat and dairy. Kathleen Turner, a registered dietitian with the University of Ottawa...
Traditionally, frailty is thought to be a syndrome of the elderly – one which comes as a natural and inevitable side-effect of aging, gradually transforming strong, healthy bodies into weaker, more delicate frames over time. For clinicians, frailty is a concept which has long posed formidable...
Dr. Frans Leenen is the Director of the Hypertension Clinic and Hypertension Research at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. In 2008, he and fellow Heart Institute researcher Dr. George Fodor led the Ontario Survey on the Prevalence and Control of Hypertension, the most in-depth study of high...
A good night’s sleep is important for a healthy heart. In fact, studies show that poor quality sleep increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease and can be a point of concern for those living with cardiovascular disease. Trouble sleeping, or insomnia, is a common complaint, according to...
February is Heart Month, but it’s always a good time to pay attention to your heart health. That’s especially true because the things you can do to keep your heart healthy are also good for your general wellbeing and help prevent many other chronic diseases.
Nearly 70 Ottawa Heart Institute program items will be on tap this year at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver. Topics range widely across basic research, clinical research and clinical practice. Our program guide will help you find them all. Download the 2017 Canadian Cardiovascular...
Five years ago, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute launched the Heart Wise Exercise (HWE) program in the national capital to both assist people with heart disease and prevent its onset. The program has since broadened its mandate to prevent or limit the effects of living with a chronic health...
In an ideal world, there would be no need for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. In an ideal world, everybody would eat a healthy diet, be physically active, not smoke—and in living this healthy life, minimize the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in their lives. But this isn’t an ideal...
Whether you live in a large urban centre with frequent smog advisories or in a more rural setting, the air you breathe can pose significant risks for developing cardiovascular distress and disease. While children, the elderly and those with diabetes, lung disease or existing heart conditions are...
The Ottawa Heart Institute is uniting researchers to study environmental stressors on heart health and create tailored solutions for the most vulnerable
Did you know periods of sporadic fasting can be beneficial for the metabolism? Up to sixteen weeks of intermittent fasting without otherwise having to count calories helps fight obesity and other metabolic disorders. Such fasting already shows benefits after only six weeks. This is according to a...
Whether it’s watching television, going for a long drive or spending hours in front of a computer, sitting for long periods of time increases your risk for a variety of health problems, even if you get regular exercise. While regular exercise is key to preventing heart disease, obesity and diabetes...
But living on a salt-restricted diet can be a challenge. “It’s really hard to know how much sodium is in food because you don’t see it,” explained Kathleen Turner, a registered dietitian with the Division of Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation at the Ottawa Heart Institute. “It just disappears...
Lana Gillard was used to going to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Her mother was a long-time patient there, suffering from chronic heart failure after many years of treatment and several open-heart surgeries. Gillard accompanied her to appointments and knew her mother was in excellent...
Broadly speaking, Canadians at risk for a heart attack know they need to improve their physical health. But not all do. In a recent study of residents of six Canadian provinces, almost one in five people with the highest cardiac risk did not think they needed to make any lifestyle changes to improve...