The Latest Mikey Network News
Each year The Mikey Network awards a scholarship grant for students at the Ryerson University School of Nutrition, to recognize academic excellence and the promotion of nutrition to prevent chronic heart disease.
We would like to congratulate Yue Gao and Karli Nummikoski for being this year’s Mikey Network Award recipients!
Congratulations, Yue and Karli! We hope that this award provides motivation, encouragement, and is one of the first steps in helping you to make the world a healthier place!
An important part of maintaining a heart healthy lifestyle is in the diet that we keep. With the cooler temperatures that Winter brings we tend to gravitate towards meals that are generally very hearty and tend to warm us up from the cold. These meals are usually very good for us, as they are often made up of many vegetables like soups, which provide us with essential nutrients.
Below are some heart-healthy recipes that we will regularly use during the fall months that our registered dietitian, Marsha Rosen, created for us. We hope that you enjoy each of them as much as we have.
Corn, Potato and Shrimp Chowder
For more heart healthy recipes, check out the heart-healthy living section of our site.
With much of the country already experiencing plenty of snowfalls this winter, we thought that it would be a good time to talk about how the cold weather can increase the risk of a heart attack or a sudden cardiac arrest. More importantly how you can protect your heart and reduce that risk.
Although shoveling can seem like an easy chore, it can easily become a strenuous activity leaving you with plenty of fatigue. Lifting snow with a shovel back and forth across a driveway can take a lot out of those who are not regularly active. This can also be the case for those who have snowblowers, as the act of pushing the heavy machine can cause the same amount of strain.
In addition to the activity, the cold weather is another contributor to an increased risk as it can boost blood pressure, interrupt blood flow to part of the heart and make blood more likely to form clots.
Follow our tips below to make sure that you’re well prepared for shoveling your home this winter.
Before you shovel snow
While shoveling snow
We hope that you’ve found these tips valuable. Stay safe and happy shoveling!
Keeping a proper sleep schedule can sometimes be tricky. Many of us feel distracted at night because we browse social media or we end up binge watching our favourite shows on Netflix.
A new study that was published last week suggests that those who struggle to get a goodnight’s sleep and who suffer from insomnia type symptoms have a greater chance of having a stroke or a heart attack.
It focused on a few key areas: do you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Waking up too early in the morning? Or trouble staying focused during the day due to poor sleep? Which many of us can relate to. Below are some of our tips on how to make sure you have a well regulated sleep schedule.
1. Avoid coffee and tea in the late afternoon/evening
We know that coffee and tea are two delicious drinks that many of us simply cannot eliminate, especially during the morning. It is no secret that caffeinated drinks will keep you awake at night, and the reason being, caffeine has a stimulant that is meant to keep you more awake. However, what we may not know is that, coffee stays in your body for approximately 6 hours after you drink a cup, according to ‘Livestrong’. In order to prevent staying awake at night, try to limit your caffeine in-take six hours before bed time. That way your body will release the stimulant and you will feel tired naturally.
2. Avoid Napping & Technology
Taking a nap is probably the greatest feeling in the world but it may be a bad idea for consistent night-time sleep. Napping for a long period of time can result in feeling grumpy, and will affect your ability to fall asleep at night. If you try to limit the time frame of your naps or napping in general, it may aid into the elimination of an irregular sleep pattern. Instead, go to sleep earlier than you normally would.
In light of napping and falling asleep at a decent time, technology can sometimes be problematic for a proper sleep schedule. We have all had those nights, where we feel so tired, to the point that one eye is open but the other is closed. The reason for the open eye may be because of the cute video on social media, of the cute puppy taking care of his younger brother and sisters. While it is okay to be immersed in technology, it is equally as important to give yourself a schedule. Consider stopping your browsing an hour before bed time so that your mind has the ability to relax.
3. Limit Netflix and Chill
We all love Netflix and chill, more specifically, the snacks involved such as potato chips, ice cream, candy, and popcorn. While we indulge in our snacks and watch the new episode of stranger things, it is important to know when to call it quits- and tell your mind ‘one more episode’ isn’t happening. Perhaps, give yourself a cut off time for television, but it is important to be diligent in doing so. This will ensure that you are sleeping on time, gaining enough rest for your busy days at the office, and helping to prevent the possibility of certain health issues.
Overall, it is important to keep schedules and routines. Once your body gets used to an everyday task, it then becomes difficult to stray away from it. Furthermore, lack of sleep can cause severe health issues that may not be as evident now but could be in the near future. Sleeping regularly and making sure you are receiving enough rest is important to properly function every day. You will feel more organized, alert, and energized – perhaps, you won’t need that cup of coffee after all!
November is CPR month in Canada and many organizations are doing their part to help educate Canadians on how to properly respond to emergency situations. Knowing how to do so is important, as emergencies where CPR is required, has a vastly better outcome if there are bystanders actively performing CPR, rather than waiting for help to come.
In the cases of Sudden Cardiac Arrest the chances of being saved increase even more if you are using an AED or a defibrillator, like our MIKEY’s. These aren’t always as easy to find though as they’re primarily set up in locations that large numbers of people frequent, like hockey rinks or schools. It’s important to have them available in locations like these as they’re so often frequented by the public, but because these locations are so big, they can often be difficult to find.
To help you know where AED’s are, we encourage you to check out the Ontario Registry which indicates where an AED is closest to you in the province (If you don’t live in Ontario, we encourage you to check if your province has an up to date registry). Although the registry has many AED’s added, it doesn’t have them all. So, we encourage you to always keep an eye out when entering a large location so that you know where to find one in case of an emergency.
St.John’s Ambulance
We also recommend a newer tool from our friends at the St.John’s Ambulance. They have partnered with AEDMAP to create an app the shares the location of AED’s throughout Canada. It utilizes google maps and indicates where AED’s are in proximity to your location.
Fortunately, we have a pretty good grasp of all of the locations that our MIKEY’s are housed. We have 100 MIKEY’s placed in GO stations in and around the GTA, a MIKEY on every one of TWO MEN AND A TRUCKS® moving trucks, and a full list of MIKEY’s that we’ve donated to families, schools and organizations from all over the world.
Connect with us on our social channels, and let us know where you’ve seen a MIKEY!
