by Heart disease and stroke are leading causes of death and disability in the United States. These cardiac complications are often preventable, yet the nation’s healthcare spending in this area continues to escalate at unprecedented rates. Cardiac events and strokes have traditionally been associated with senior populations, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports in their most recent Vital Signs report that over 800,000 cardiac events and strokes happened to adults ages 35-64 years old in 2016.
The CDC recognized that it will take a team effort to significantly reduce the number of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiac events in America and in 2012 created the Million Hearts® national initiative focused on preventing one million cardiac events by 2022. According to the CDC’s September 7th Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), heart disease and stroke-related illness can be prevented through a series of small changes sustained overtime.
The Vital Signs report states that 71 million adults are physically inactive and there is a small change goal of each adult increasing their physical activity by 10 minutes a day. Most adults know they should increase their activity, but many are not sure how to get started. ACE provides a variety of free resources designed to help people get moving:
- ACE Exercise Library
- Developing Successful Community Individual and Group Walking Programs
- Fitness Professionals Guide to Developing Walking Programs
ACE supports the Million Hearts® efforts and believes that well-qualified exercise professionals and health coaches are ideally suited to join the teams working to support Million Hearts 2022 goal in their communities. Learn more about ACE education:
