Living a healthy life

I think it is really important to look after my health. I need to keep a healthy heart because it means I can go to work every day and avoid going to the doctor.

I keep healthy by exercising such as walking, eating healthy foods and gardening. At home we grow lots of fruits and vegetables. Another way to keep healthy is to not smoke or drink alcohol, I don’t do either of these.

A few years ago, as part of my work at the  Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, I helped evaluate the British Heart Foundation’s resource for people with learning disabilities called Live With A Healthy Heart. It is an easy read book with video clips featuring people who look after their heart in different ways. The resource tells you how to reduce blood pressure, stop smoking, take up more exercising, eat healthily and how to avoid having diabetes. I found it easy to understand and very interesting.

The bit I found most interesting was reading about how your arteries get clogged with fat if you eat the wrong foods and smoke. As part of the evaluation we ran workshops showing people the video clips and wrote an easy read questionnaire for people with learning disabilities.

Health checks

Another way to look after your health is to have a health check.  I go to my GP once a year for my health check with the nurse. It is important that people with learning disabilities have annual health checks because health problems can be picked up at early stage. When I have my health check the nurse checks my weight, height, blood pressure and pulse.

My health

Recently I have had some health problems with my leg, eyes and thyroid. I have had physiotherapy for my leg, drops for my eyes and I have regular visits to the Dr about my thyroid. Earlier this year I had to have radioiodine treatment, this meant I had to be in isolation for two weeks. I couldn’t go to work or even see my family for long periods of time. I did not look forward to this as I like being around people and would miss work. I kept myself busy by emailing my colleagues at work to keep in touch with them.  I will continue to have regular checks of my thyroid, as I have had for many years.

I don’t let my health problems get me down and I still come to work every day, as it is important to me and my health to be busy.

 

Recent blogs by Hanifa Islam

• World Cup fever! - 9 July 2014
• All about my life - 5 June 2014
• Learning Disability Awareness Training - 1 April 2014
• Trip to Eastbourne - 27 June 2013
• Looking back on the last twelve months - 19 June 2012