NNLM Reading Club February Selections Focuses on Heart Health

Posted in: #CC/Academic List, #Health Interest List, #Health Sciences List, #Public/K-12 List, All Members, All of Us

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The reason we have cancer and heart disease is the same reason you can’t get rid of the wear and tear on your tires on your car: as soon as you use them, you are wearing them away. You can’t make eternal tires, and it’s the same with the human body.

– S. Jay Olshansky, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago

Like tires, the heart does not run forever but can last longer if the driver makes smart choices. NNLM Reading Club’s February selections focus on the heart with three books that provide valuable information for people dealing with heart conditions.

In Being Empowered for a Healthy Heart: A Personal Guide to Taking Control of Your Health While Living with Chronic Conditions, Dr. Phoebe Chi seeks to empower those with chronic diseases of all types, including heart disease and high blood pressure, in the self-management of their conditions. The internal medicine and public health physician does so with practical exercises and tools in each chapter to address symptoms, even throwing some poetry into the mix.

Restart Your Heart: The Playbook for Thriving with AFib by cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Aseem Desai clears up some of the confusion surrounding atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm that can interfere with blood flow. In addition to providing knowledge about AFib, Desai discusses how to deal with the diagnosis from a mental and emotional perspective.

Finally, in When the Words Suddenly Stopped, former television broadcast journalist Vivian King describes her experience recovering from a stroke that took away her voice, sharing how determination bolstered by a reliance on faith, family and friends allowed her to recover.

Strengthening your heart knowledge can help strengthen your heart. We hope these books will provide you an opportunity to do both. Visit the NNLM Reading Club for discussion guides to these titles and other useful information.