Your Partner can help you stay Fit and Healthy
A recent paper highlights that heart attack survivors stands a greater chance of changing unhealthy habits or creating new ones when they are joined by their partners. This was discovered during programs for survivors that focused on weight reduction, physical activity, and smoking cessation. Participants who partook in the programs with their partners had greater rates of successes than participants who did not.
“Lifestyle improvement after a heart attack is a crucial part of preventing repeat events”. “Our study shows that when spouses join the effort to change habits, patients have a better chance of becoming healthier — particularly when it comes to losing weight.” said study author Ms. Lotte Verweij, a registered nurse and PhD student, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands.
The aim of the research was to assess the role of partners in helping people to exercise and stay fit. 824 patients were assigned to intervention groups or control group. The intervention groups had programs designed to affect the lifestyles of patients. The control group had no such programs. 411 patients were allocated to the intervention/experimental groups. The programs included efforts to increase exercise, stoppage of smoking, etc. Nurses encouraged the partners of the experimental groups to join them in the exercise. 48% of partners joined.
The paper has been presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2020 – The Digital Experience. It is titled “The influence of partners on lifestyle-related risk factors in patients after an acute coronary syndrome. Results from the RESPONSE-2 randomized controlled trial”
