Even Steve Jobs used to limit time his children spent on technology

Heart disease may occur mainly in adults, however, doctors have warned to keep children’s hearts healthy as well.

Dr Hiba Kurjieh, a clinical dietitian at Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital, said that ‘inactivity’ is one of the top contributors to heart diseases and the amount of time spent “sitting around using social media and on mobile phones” need to be reduced.

Dr Kurjieh said that she receives one to two children “every day” who are not active and are spending excessive time on technology.

“As much as technology is good, we have to limit the use of social media and iPhones, it’s making us inactive. There are nine-year-olds here that are obese and they just don’t know,” she said. “When we were young, we used to play all the time and create things to play with, Now, they’re not active. If you have kids limit the time of social media and Internet. Even Steve Jobs used to limit the time of technology usage for his kids.

“I’m trying to ask parents to commit their kids into certain exercise. We should do three hours a week of extra activity. We should work out, walk, dance or swim. We should always be able to find time – half hour or 40 minutes a day, it’s very important.”

Dr Kurjieh also touched on some key elements that add to the risk of heart disease. She said heart disease could occur due to genetics, obesity, smoking, an unhealthy diet, inactivity, diabetes, hypertension, high blood cholesterol and age.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is imperative in order to reduce the risk of heart disease, according to Dr Kurjieh.

“What I say to my patients every day is that our mouth is the door to sickness or health so we have to be smart when choosing what goes inside our mouth.

She said residents should eat heart-healthy foods, such as cold water fish (salmon, trout or tuna) as they are rich in Omega-3. She recommended nuts, brown rice, oatmeal, blueberries, grapes, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables and fruits, dark chocolate and tea.

However, these food items should be consumed in moderation, the doctor added.