World Heart Day is celebrated on September 29, every year. The day was created to spread awareness among people about cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and their effects. Cardiovascular diseases cause the most deaths and illnesses in people. It tries to promote a healthier lifestyle by asking people to opt for healthier food consumption, quit smoking, and engage in some kind of exercise on a daily basis. With these changes, almost 80 percent of premature deaths can be avoided. Technology came a long way to expand the average life span of humans. But now, with all the unhealthy habits, we’ve started to go back in time. According to the World Health Organization, CVDs take about 17.9 million people every year. That makes upto 31 percent of global deaths. World Heart Day 2018: Theme and Objective of the Day, and Interesting Facts About the Human Heart.

We’ve noticed how cardiovascular diseases were more common in mature adults. Every time someone was affected by it, we often thought about their age. But these days, it can come for anyone. We’ve heard stories of young school going kids also being victims to this. World Heart Day was made to realise the pain it brings to the victims and their loved ones. World Heart Day 2018: 10 Heart-Healthy Foods That You Must Include in Your Diet.

Date

The World Heart Day was founded in 2000 to spread awareness in people about risks they unintentionally invite with an unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle. A huge chunk of common public in society suffer from heart diseases. We lose an imaginable number of people to strokes, heart attacks and heart failures, every year! The initial day appointed to this was the last Sunday of September, every year. However, in 2010, they picked September 29 dedicated to World Heart Day. From the year 2011, it stuck to one date. Like every other day appointed to spread awareness about something, World Heart Day also has different themes each year.

Theme

The theme picked for this year is “My Heart, Your Heart”. The goal for this year with this theme is to make people choose a healthy life for themselves and their loved ones. Take care of yourself and the people close to you. According to the World Heart Federation, the theme is to make a promise to ourselves, our family, our loved ones and our children, aiming for a better life. Cook healthier, quit smoking and other harmful activities, exercise more and say yes to a better life for you and your family.

The first theme for World Heart day picked in 2000 was "I Love my Heart: Let it beat!". It often aims to improve not only an individual's health, but also the people surrounding them. Every theme for this day is a reminder we have people behind who will be impacted greatly if we continue our horrible habits.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 24, 2019 09:57 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).