All of us have experienced anxiety, sadness, frustration or other negative emotions. While they can cause mental distress, they can also take a toll on your heart health, especially if these feelings are persistent or frequent. Understanding and dealing with our moods is important for both...
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There is a long list of pumpkin spice inspired products available to consumers this time of year. There are pumpkin spiced beers, cereals and yes, even dog treats. The pumpkin spice mix is essentially a blend of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice, but it has been known to include other...
Is quitting smoking on your 2019 list of goals? There are a variety of factors that influence someone’s ability to quit smoking long-term. For women, the messaging and research around smoking cessation has focused largely on women and pregnancy, rather than supporting the overall health of women and...
The Canadian Women's Heart Health Alliance is calling for action to address the critical gap in heart health programs designed specifically for women
Canadians eat more salt than is good for them, increasing their risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. The Heart and Stroke Foundation estimates that the average adult Canadian consumes about 3,400 mg of sodium per day (roughly one-and-a-half teaspoons), most of it from processed...
Each of us breathes in 10,000 or more litres of air every day, so it’s no surprise that the quality of that air can impact our health. Whether in large urban centres or more rural settings, air pollution can be a fact of life. As it turns out, these airborne pollutants—ground-level ozone, nitrogen...
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) is establishing a network to improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and care in women. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the UOHI Foundation are funding the project, valued at more than $1.2M plus in-kind contributions. CVD is the...
The Canadian Women’s Heart Health Centre at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute is working to change the women’s heart health landscape in Canada.
It’s been shown to lower death rates from heart disease and even from other causes after the onset of cardiovascular disease, and it helps patients achieve a better quality of life. In fact, cardiac rehabilitation is a key “next step” in the recovery process following a heart attack or procedures...
February 22 is Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day, an international campaign dedicated to raising awareness about heart valve disease—its risk factors, symptoms, detection, and treatment
Several leading voices in cardiovascular medicine spoke out strongly at this year’s Congress about the looming crisis in health care and the need for the system to finally take prevention seriously. This message rang out from both sides of the border and took centre stage (that is “center” for our...
Regular physical activity is one of the most beneficial things a person can do to prevent heart disease or support their rehabilitation after a heart attack or cardiac surgery. A study recently published in the British Medical Journal found that exercise can be as good or better than drug therapy...
In a randomized clinical trial, a Heart Institute group led by Bob Reid, PhD evaluated a program designed to impact the heart health of family members of patients with heart disease. “Family members of patients are in a teachable moment that gives us the opportunity to prevent them from becoming the...
The arteries in our body are lined with a layer of cells called the endothelium. The very first step in the development of cardiovascular disease—the primary cause of heart attack and stroke—takes place when the endothelium begins to function abnormally. In research presented at the Canadian...
Cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation underwent extensive change in the 20th century and continues to evolve rapidly. Andrew Pipe, MD, in his Terry Kavanagh Lecture at the 2014 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, outlined a vision for "CVD Prevention and Rehabilitation in the 21st Century." To...
In 2016, the first Canadian Women’s Heart Health Summit marked the only national gathering focused on women’s heart health in over 15 years. Now, as planning for the 2018 Summit moves into full swing, the organizers have published a summary of the results from the 2016 event in the Canadian Journal...
With enthusiasm and a shared sense of purpose, experts in women and heart disease gathered in Ottawa this April for the first Canadian Women’s Heart Health Summit. Attendees included leading figures in clinical care and research from across North America. The event aimed to lay the groundwork for...
In the 1950s, available advice on women and heart health largely consisted of information on how to help husbands recover from their heart attacks. As the famous ad says, we’ve come a long way, baby. Progress is being made in addressing women’s heart health, progress that was amply demonstrated at...
Heather Tulloch, PhD, is a Clinical, Health and Rehabilitation Psychologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and an Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa. As staff psychologist in the Heart Institute’s Division of Cardiac...
When Nazli Parast, APN, was studying to become a cardiac nurse, she was surprised at how little she learned about women's heart health and the specific risk factors for heart disease unique to women. Today, some fifteen years later, Nazli has a master’s degree in nursing, and she is one of the...