Love Your Heart with Hello Heart this February
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Throughout American Heart Month, the CDC, American Heart Association, and other health organizations focus on cardiovascular health, and the attention is well deserved—heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.
American Heart Month History
American Heart Month was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Presidential Proclamation 3566 in December 1963.
In his remarks announcing February 1964 as the first American Heart Month, President Johnson urged “the people of the United States to give heed to the nationwide problem of the heart and blood-vessel diseases, and to support the programs required to bring about its solution.”
Not long after the official launch of American Heart Month, the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health was published on Jan. 11, 1964. This landmark publication, released by Surgeon General Luther Terry, MD, was the first federal government report to link smoking and negative health impacts, including lung cancer and heart disease.
“American Heart Month provides an important opportunity to emphasize the sharing of best practices, aligning measurements, advancing implementation strategies, and providing leadership to focus on the burden of cardiovascular disease.”
We’ve come a long way since 1964. Today, American Heart Month brings together many public, private, and governmental organizations to shed light on how far we’ve come and the work that needs to continue. While annual deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke have declined since the first Surgeon General’s report, heart disease continues to be a public health burden and a leading cause of death for both men and women.
25 Ways to Get Involved
- Join the #OurHearts movement by sharing on social media how you’re working with friends or family to be heart-healthy. Encourage your friends and family to do so as well. Be sure to use the hashtag!
- Wear red on the first Friday of February for National Wear Red Day to raise awareness about heart disease and encourage others to do the same. Use NHLBI’s social media materials to help spread the word.
- Set up an online support group with friends far and wide to encourage each other in your goals to manage your weight, eat healthier, quit smoking, or work out.
- Commit to a walking schedule with a friend or family member, even if you can’t walk together.
- Challenge your organization to participate in a “steps” contest. Use activity trackers to see which team takes the most steps.
- Share NHLBI’s Heart Month video on social media or play it before your next team meeting to encourage colleagues to work together for a healthier heart.
- Try a new recipe weekly. Ask friends and family to share their favorite heart-healthy recipe with you. NHLBI offers a variety of recipes on its website.
- Be social. Use NHLBI’s Heart Month social media resources to promote Heart Month to your friends and followers.
- Make television watching more active by doing jumping jacks or push-ups during the commercials or just standing up and stretching.
- Sign a social support contract with three family members or friends who also want to lose weight.
- Blog about it. Write a blog post about Heart Month, the risk factors for heart disease, and how you’re making heart-healthy changes in your life.
- Attend an online cooking class with friends and learn new heart-healthy recipes. Or sign up your kids for one!
- Plan a date to go on a hike or cook a heart-healthy meal with your loved one on Valentine’s Day.
- Write an article for your organization’s newsletter or the local newspaper about Heart Month and ways to keep your heart healthy. Don’t have time? NHLBI has pre-written articles you can use.
- Send a press release to your local paper to promote local Heart Month activities within your community, and pitch them stories of how community members are taking steps to prevent heart disease.
- Post flyers with heart-healthy messages at local clinics or pharmacies.
- Create a Pinterest board with heart-healthy recipes and share it with your organization, friends, and family. Make it a public board and encourage others to add their favorite recipes. See The Heart Truth’s® Pinterest board for other ideas you can repin.
- Ask if you can insert a fact sheet with heart-health information in grocery or prescription bags at your local grocery store or pharmacy.
- Share NHLBI’s slides as part of a heart-healthy, online educational presentation, distribute them during faith-based services, or show them on informational screens such as those in local clinics or anywhere there are screens to share information.
- Encourage your local representatives to post statistics about coronary heart disease in your state on their social media sites.
- Ask healthcare providers to give a presentation to your organization about ways to prevent heart disease.
- Host an online community event where families can be active and learn about local health resources.
- Partner with a local hospital for heart screenings for blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and body mass index (BMI).
- Work with local recreation and fitness centers to spread the word online about the importance of physical activity to prevent heart disease.
- Use NHLBI’s Heart Month materials. Share the materials with your organization’s members, workplace wellness team, and other health advocates to encourage them to champion Heart Month.
About Hello Heart
Hello Heart is the only digital therapeutics company to focus exclusively on heart disease, the leading cause of death for U.S. adults. Using AI, behavioral science, and personalization, Hello Heart’s digital coaching app empowers people to embrace healthier behavior, which can reduce the risks of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease. The program includes a Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure monitor that helps users catch blood pressure readings that are extremely high or an irregular heartbeat, and the app encourages them to talk to their doctor to identify potential risks in time. Validated in peer-reviewed studies and trusted by leading Fortune 500 companies, Hello Heart is easy to use and works alongside an employer’s benefits ecosystem. Founded in 2013, Hello Heart is a Businessolver Pinnacle Partner and member of the American Heart Association’s Innovators’ Network.
Hello Heart’s mission: to empower people to understand and improve their cardiovascular health using the latest technology.
