The heart of the Spanish reflect 5 years more

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A study developed by Bupa, parent company of Sanitas, and the World Heart Federation analyses cardiac health and obtains the "real" age of Spanish hearts. They highlight that the professional sphere is key to maintaining a healthy heart. The healthiest Spanish hearts live in Navarre, Murcia, Aragón, the Canary Islands and Castilla-La Mancha and work in medicine, catering and tourism or are athletes, IT technicians, artists, soldiers or teachers. Women have better cardiac health than men; their hearts are on average 3.25 years older than their real age, while those of men are 5.24 years older.

According to the conclusions of the study developed by Bupa, parent company of Sanitas, and the World Hearth Federation, Spanish people's hearts are 4.72 years older than their actual age, meaning that their cardiac health is worse than the English, French and Swedish. Clinical data, physical activity metrics and other healthy lifestyle habits of more than 10,000 people across the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, India, Australia and Chile, were consulted for this study.

The study also shows that Spanish women have better cardiac health than Spanish men, with hearts 3.25 years older that their real age, while those of men are on average 5.24 years older than their actual age. Furthermore, the average Body Mass Index recorded in Spain is 26.23, considered overweight, which shows the relationship between this indicator and cardiac health.

In addition, the study connects cardiac health with professions and the autonomous community of residence, which enables us to know that the professionals with the best cardiac age work in medicine, catering and tourism or are athletes, IT technicians, artists, soldiers or teachers. Moreover, those with the highest cardiac age work in agriculture, crafts and construction.

With respect to the autonomous communities, Navarre, Murcia, Aragón, the Canary Islands and Castilla-La Mancha are home to the healthiest hearts in Spain, while Extremadura, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Catalonia and Cantabria ac for the worst cardiac health.

With the objective of raising the population's awareness on the need to incorporate healthy lifestyle habits for good cardiac health, to coincide with World Heart Day, celebrated on 29 September, Sanitas, together with Bupa and the World Heart Foundation, has launched an online calculator to find out the age of your heart. José Francisco Tomás, executive medical director of Sanitas, states that “despite the fact that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the world, it can be easily controlled; all you have to do is modify risk behaviours such as smoking, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity or excessive alcohol consumption”.

The main message we are trying to transmit is the importance of creating healthy environments both at home and in the workplace. And, in this sense, some people cannot maintain healthy habits as their working environment prevents them from doing so, with a lack of smoke-free areas and the impossibility of buying healthy food in their offices. The study detected significant improvements in companies that implemented initiatives to promote the health of their employees, particularly in relation to diet.

Thus, Sanitas is a pioneer in facilitating healthy lifestyle habits both for its employees and other companies through its Sanitas Smile programme. With it, they managed to increase productivity, reduce absence from work and facilitate the acquisition of healthy lifestyle habits for their employees, while reducing indicators such as weight, blood pressure, body mass index and body fat percentage.

Now Sanitas is extending to other companies its commitment to promoting healthy lifestyle habits among its employees through the "Madrid Healthy City" project. In the words of Yolanda Erburu, executive director of communication and CSR of Sanitas and general director of the Sanitas Foundation, “this programme shows that companies can do a lot to promote the health of their workers, an emerging trend in the responsible management of human resources. Healthy Cities is the evolution of Smart Cities, as it s the promotion of the health of the population, sustainable mobility, urban designs for a healthier lifestyle and better environmental protection as key elements.

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