Newswise — An online vascular health activity book that teaches children, ages 5–12 years, how their vascular system works is available on VascularWeb.org® at http://tinyurl.com/nlwmo9 in the Patients and Families section. It uses “blood buddies” to teach children how the vascular system delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout their bodies and why they need to eat well and maintain an active lifestyle to keep it healthy. It stresses the importance of exercise, healthy eating, and not smoking through games and coloring pages.
“According to the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, the percentage of children and teens that are overweight has more than doubled in the past 30 years. This startling statistic has crucial consequences for the future for these children,” said Anton N. Sidawy, MD, MPH, president of the Society for Vascular Surgery®. “If they grow into obese adults, they face a greater chance of having diabetes, which causes vascular disease, the main culprit in stroke and poor circulation to the legs. Vascular surgeons want to do what we can to help parents and educators teach youngsters about the health risks of obesity and smoking. If they understand how their bodies work they may be more likely to take good care of themselves.”
Some of the adult vascular health complications include blocked carotid arteries to the brain that can cause paralyzing strokes, the third leading cause of death in the United States. More than 15,000 people die annually from ruptured aortic aneurysms, and one in every 20 Americans over the age of 50 has peripheral arterial disease. Diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol levels, and lack of exercise are key factors in a person’s likelihood of developing these diseases.
This activity book uses entertaining learning tools including a maze, word search, penny game, secret code, and other activities to explain how a vascular system works, why it is important to good health, and how to maintain healthy habits.
About the Society for Vascular Surgery®The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is a not-for-profit professional medical society, composed primarily of vascular surgeons, that seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, advocacy, research, and public awareness. SVS is the national advocate for 3,000 specialty-trained vascular surgeons and other medical professionals who are dedicated to the prevention and cure of vascular disease. Visit its Web site at www.VascularWeb.org® and follow SVS on Twitter by searching for VascularHealth or at http://twitter.com/VascularHealth.
RSS