Make A Difference This National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five children in the US is obese. This poses a health risk because it often leads to health problems that were once considered adult problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Additionally, many end up suffering from depression and have low self-esteem with the average child suicide rates also seeing a spike.

One of the best ways to reduce childhood obesity is to improve eating and exercise habits among children. By taking a preventative measure, many conditions that can have a direct bearing on the child’s health in the future can be controlled or even altogether nullified. 

September: Make a difference this National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

September being National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month is a great opportunity for both parents and children to raise awareness about the obesity epidemic and look for solutions that are practical and easily implementable. 

Here is how you can get involved:

1. Make people aware of the food they eat and encourage families to make small changes, like keeping fresh fruit within reach or going for walks.
2.  Spread awareness in the community school, and motivate teachers and administrators to make schools healthier. Ask them to provide healthy food options and daily physical activities for students.
3.  Request doctors and nurses to be leaders in their communities and offer programs and seminars on the subject, “How to prevent childhood obesity”.

Since obesity is consistently associated with an increased risk for metabolic diseases and cardiovascular disease, community health care providers or clinics can use ambulatory ECG to measure children’s heart rate and pulses. This way, parents can track their children’s health and diet. 

Make a difference in children’s lives this National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Join a community to raise awareness about the problems associated with obesity and health risk associated with generations to come.

Cardiac Arrhythmias And Ambulatory ECG Monitoring

Cardiac arrhythmias, commonly known as heart arrhythmias or irregular heartbeat, are a group of heart conditions that deal with an irregular heartbeat. People with arrhythmias may experience faster heartbeat (tachycardia), slow heartbeat (bradycardia), or irregular heartbeat (referred to as flutter or fibrillation) or early heartbeat (premature contraction). The condition occurs when the electrical signals responsible for heart contraction or heartbeat stops working properly.

Is Cardiac Arrhythmias Dangerous?

Most cardiac arrhythmias are harmless. However, if they are a result of a weak or damaged heart, they can be serious and may even prove to be fatal. Often, arrhythmias do not have symptoms, which is why monitoring you and your patients' heartbeat using ambulatory ECG regularly is crucial. 

Why use ambulatory ECG?

Ambulatory ECG monitoring is the most preferred technology employed by the majority of medical professionals for the evaluation of patients with symptoms indicative of heart arrhythmia or conduction abnormality. Contrary to the standard electrocardiogram (ECG), which only gives a brief sample of cardiac electrical phenomena over 10-15 seconds, ambulatory ECG displays ECG data over a long period, hence enabling professionals for the assessment of dynamic and transient cardiac electrical activity.

Bottom Line

Despite the harmless nature of cardiac arrhythmias, it’s important not to overlook the condition, especially if your patients have diabetes, hypertension or have a history of stress, drug abuse or smoking. 

If you are looking for a PC based ambulatory ECG system, CardioHolter™ is a compact, comprehensive and feature-rich monitoring system you should consider. It’s fully interpretive with pacemaker detection and has a 3 channel display screen with an event button for reliable and accurate reporting. 

Mobile ECG Devices - Portable Devices To Monitor Cardiovascular Diseases

Electrocardiogram (ECG), the prime source to underline cardiovascular issues, is a device that monitors a patient’s heart activity. While conventional ECG devices are time-consuming, mobile ECG devices are lightweight, safe, and convenient. Besides being portable, these devices are easy to use. The wireless system allows data transmission via Bluetooth and other similar technologies, in a heartbeat. Due to these reasons, mobile ECG devices are slowly gaining popularity among medical professionals.

According to studies, Cardiovascular Diseases alone are cause of 31% of deaths each year, globally. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking are some other factors that contribute to the risk of developing heart diseases. Due to an increase in the incidence of CVD, ECG monitoring is becoming necessary. With the introduction of mobile ECG monitors, it has become easier for doctors and medical personnel to remotely diagnose patients on time. 

According to the American Heart Association, CVD is the underlying cause of more than 800,000 deaths in the United States. With the launch of Mission Lifeline, the demand for Bluetooth-equipped portable ECG devices has increased from hospitals. Though ECG has been in use for a long time, recent technological evolvement has highlighted its advantages among medical personnel and patients. 

A portable ECG monitoring device simplifies things for end-users in case of a medical emergency. For instance, when a patient feels unwell, an attendant can immediately note the reading of heart activity. The collected information could be further communicated to the doctor remotely to take the required actions. Besides, the recorded information can be transferred to devices like smartphones and tablets via Bluetooth and wireless technologies for references, in the future.