Guest: Want to improve heart health? Embrace cultural history, heritage

Dakota LeClaire
·2 min read
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If you could take steps to increase your life span, would you do it?

Maintaining a healthy weight, managing blood pressure and quitting smoking are all ways to improve heart health and lengthen your life. Another way to improve your heart health? Engage in traditional cultural activities.
Maintaining a healthy weight, managing blood pressure and quitting smoking are all ways to improve heart health and lengthen your life. Another way to improve your heart health? Engage in traditional cultural activities.

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death for Native Americans — but maintaining a healthy weight, managing blood pressure and quitting smoking are all ways to improve heart health and lengthen your life.

Another way to improve your heart health? Engage in traditional cultural activities.

A research team led by an Indigenous faculty member at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and two prominent Indigenous physicians at other institutions made an astonishing discovery: Engaging in cultural activities can reduce the negative effects of stressors that cause heart disease.

In one study with a Southwestern U.S. tribe, participants who learned tribal history, language and crafts lost more weight and had lower blood glucose levels than those engaged solely in mainstream exercise regimes and diet intervention.

Consider exploring your heritage. It’s one tool in a heart-healthy toolbox — not a silver bullet. Hit the gym one day, then take a language class the next. Meditate in the morning to promote mindfulness, then visit a cultural heritage center or museum in the afternoon. This same approach can also apply to non-Native people as we all have ancestral backgrounds worth exploring.

I also encourage people to take advantage of their nearby health services. In Shawnee, local tribal members have access to multiple health clinics and a wellness center. However, these resources wouldn’t be as impactful without the addition of customized programs and classes that educate about serious health concerns like diabetes and nutrition. Finding health professionals who can provide guidance and oversee your progress is a necessary step, increasing the likelihood you will continue to grow in your personal health journey.

Life is about balance and embracing all methods at our disposal to be happier and healthier, for ourselves and our families. This American Heart Month, I challenge everyone to adopt proactive routines to improve heart health.

Public health nurse Dakota LeClaire poses for a photo Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, at Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s East Clinic.
Public health nurse Dakota LeClaire poses for a photo Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, at Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s East Clinic.

Dakota LeClaire is a registered nurse for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Health Services.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest: Embrace cultural history, heritage to improve heart health