Yokota Hosts Healthy Heart Week

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. David Owsianka
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

As people get older, they may start to notice more aches and pains throughout their bodies and realize that it takes more effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle. What steps have you taken to increase your overall healthiness?

Members from the 374th Medical Group hosted a Healthy Heart Week Extravaganza at Yokota Air Base, March 5 to 9, 2018.

“We want people to be aware that they play an important part in their own health,” Maj. Chineta Harris, 374th MDG population health department health care integrator. “Our job is to enable people to be in preventative mindset when it comes to potentially having heart disease, strokes and other common medical issues.”

Throughout the week, there were event such as a stress awareness class, wellness workshop, smoking cessation shop, fire dept. demonstration, blood pressure check-ups and a cooking demonstration.

According to the heart association website, when a person incorporates healthy habits into their lifestyles, then their heart will be the best it can be for you.

Seven tips the association recommends for people to help keep their hearts healthy are: to avoid smoking and using tobacco products, be physically active every day, eat a heart-healthy diet, keep a healthy weight, and keep your blood pressure, total cholesterol and blood sugar at healthy levels.

“I think that the first step a person should take when becoming healthier is that people should become a part of their health,” Harris explained. “Once people become more invested in their own health care, then they will see more of a reason as to why they should eat well, exercising more and doing things that will help them.”

As the Healthy Heart Week Extravaganza comes to a close, members of the MDG encourage base personnel to continue taking initiatives that increase their overall health.

“We are doing our best to give the base populace the tools they need to help themselves stay healthy,” Harris said. “I hope that after people have attended these classes they will take whatever tidbits they may need to help them change or enhance their lifestyles.”

For more information about becoming healthier contact Maj. Harris at 225-7624 or go to the heart association website at www.heart.org.