{"id":116500,"date":"2026-02-23T11:40:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116500"},"modified":"2026-02-23T11:40:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:40:32","slug":"prof-nicholas-ossei-gerning-know-your-numbers-manage-5-key-risks-keep-moving-for-heart-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116500","title":{"rendered":"Prof Nicholas Ossei-Gerning: Know your numbers, manage 5 key risks, keep moving for heart health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Professor Nicholas Ossei-Gerning OBE, has urged Ghanaians to take simple, consistent steps to protect their heart health, emphasising that prevention is far more straightforward than commonly believed.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy FM\u2019s Super Morning Show on Monday, 23 February, Prof Ossei-Gerning said many people perceive cardiovascular health as complicated, but managing it effectively is achievable with basic awareness and action.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say that it\u2019s actually a lot simpler than people make it out to be. If you listen to some doctors, you would think that this stuff is complicated. But actually, having good cardiovascular health is fairly straightforward,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Know Your Key Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

He stressed the importance of monitoring core health indicators, particularly for those with a family history of heart disease, heart attacks, or stroke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you happen to be one whose parents have had heart attacks or strokes at a relatively young age, then you do know that you\u2019re at risk. For these people, you have to be even more cognisant of these numbers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Five Major Risk Factors<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prof Ossei-Gerning identified five critical risk factors contributing to heart attacks and strokes:<\/p>\n

Diabetes<\/p>\n

High blood pressure<\/p>\n

High cholesterol<\/p>\n

Cigarette smoking<\/p>\n

Obesity<\/p>\n

\u201cThese risk factors have to be managed,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n

He advised a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) of around 26\u201327, while noting that cholesterol targets depend on individual risk profiles. \u201cGenerally, you need to be below three. If you\u2019ve had a heart attack before, then your LDL cholesterol will have to be below 1.4,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For blood pressure, he recommended \u201croughly 130 over 80\u201d as a healthy reading, and strongly advised against smoking.<\/p>\n

Exercise and Lifestyle<\/strong><\/p>\n

On physical activity, he encouraged consistent movement and a balanced diet. \u201cYou do it by physical exercise and diet. This stuff is no rocket science,\u201d he said, suggesting that individuals explore dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet and choose what works best for them.<\/p>\n

Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., he stressed the importance of remaining active: \u201cIf you can\u2019t fly, run. If you can\u2019t run, walk. If you can\u2019t walk, crawl. But by all means, you need to keep on moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rare Genetic Conditions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responding to concerns about sudden deaths during exercise, including among athletes, Prof Ossei-Gerning highlighted rare genetic conditions like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that can cause electrical instability in the heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are rare conditions that the general public should not be concerned about,\u201d he said, advising anyone with a family history of sudden cardiac death to undergo screenings such as an ECG and a heart scan.<\/p>\n

Bottom Line<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the wider population, regular movement remains the most effective preventive measure. \u201c30 minutes four times a week is adequate,\u201d he said, noting that even brief daily activity is beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you can do, even if it\u2019s just walking around your house for 10 minutes, is better than doing nothing. The more you exercise, the better it is. But doing something is better than doing nothing. You\u2019ve got to do something. I don\u2019t care what it is, but you\u2019ve got to do something,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Profile of Professor Nicholas Ossei-Gerning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Nicholas Ossei-Gerning OBE is a UK-based interventional cardiologist with more than 30 years\u2019 experience in general and interventional cardiology, with specialist expertise in vasculogenic erectile dysfunction.<\/p>\n

A consultant at the University Hospital of Wales and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, he also practises privately at St Joseph\u2019s Hospital in Newport\/Cardiff. In Ghana, he played a leading role in establishing the Euracare Advanced Diagnostics and Heart Centre in Accra and remains a visiting professor. He notably travelled from the UK to perform an emergency cardiac intervention at the 37 Military Hospital in 2017.<\/p>\n

An alumnus of Mfantsipim School, he trained at University College Hospital, London, earning his MBBS in 1990 and later an MD. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2024, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to interventional cardiology in the UK and Ghana.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Professor Nicholas Ossei-Gerning OBE has urged people to take simple but consistent steps to protect their heart health, saying that prevention is \u201ca lot simpler than people make it out to be\u201d.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17353,1996,1883,10,9,17354],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-healthy-heart","category-in-focus","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-prof-nicholas-ossei-gerning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}