Healthy Heart In Women: Healthy Heart Is...Multidimensional!

      The topic of healthy heart in women is on again, like a moving train inviting the travelers to hop in without further delay! And that is the reality of the matter- informing you of the need to take the right step in the right direction towards enhancing healthy heart…now! The elders in our community use to say that there are three ‘seasons’ in a man’s life which include the ‘morning’, ‘afternoon’   and ‘evening’ times. (I can testify to it that African elders are ever vocal on any issue that affects their immediate communities without hesitations!). The ‘morning’ here refers to childhood followed by adulthood and old age respectively.

           Concerning the issue of healthy heart, some wise, discreet and philosophical men say that there are many dimensions to it which include the social, economic, scientific, technological and even philosophical dimensions! You may feel otherwise, but, come to think of it that all the organs in a man’s body are dependent on the viability of the healthy heart. A man that wakes up in the morning owes it to the fact that his healthy heart is still ‘keeping on’. The same goes with all other undertakings of the day from sunrise to sunset. When you are endowed with healthy heart, you are able to pursue such profitable projects that may enable you to become economically viable. The Scientists have been kept busy and unrelenting in their bid to comprehend the operation and complexities of the healthy heart.

           There is this story of a wise old woman who lived about a century ago in a remote African village; by name Mama Nilikenga. She was said to have lived up to an incredible age of 135years and that her sense of reasoning did not diminish up to the time she took her last breath! She is described as peace loving and always viewing matters in relation to the heart. For example she used to advise young people to imbibe good behavior so that their healthy heart could see them through to both ‘afternoon’ and ‘evening seasons of their lives! She was also fond of asking such questions as, ‘have you counted your heart beats today?’ Have you listened to what your heart is saying today?’ All these are no doubt philosophical perspectives…

          The story goes on that the wise old woman used to receive visitors from far and near, especially wealthy men and women who wanted to come and verify what they already heard about her philosophical dispositions. At the end they would have been more than satisfied! She was said to live in a beautifully constructed house that no one knew how and when the house was built. Further more, she was said to possess astounding scientific tendencies which enabled her to make non-pharmaceutical ‘prescriptions’ in respect healthy heart- related ailments.

           For example, she would say, ‘you need to stop taking salt (or smoking; etc…) for the next so and so months to restore your healthy heart to good shape’, and the ‘patient’ would end up for the better! One day a learned man from far away came to visit her and she asked him, ‘In exchange for political or economic prowess, are you willing to trade off your healthy heart…?!