Perception of Nutrition and Exercise as a Tool in Controlling Cardiovascular Diseases among the Elderly in Anambra State

The research investigated the perception of nutrition and exercise as a tool in controlling Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) among elderly civil servants in Anambra State of Nigeria. A total of 250 respondents comprising 150 elderly academic staff Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka and 100 senior civil servants in the Anambra state civil service, who willingly, volunteered to participate in the study. Their ages ranged between 55-65 years purposively selected. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire, with a reliability value of 0.73 using the test retest method. All data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics of frequency, percentages and chi square tested at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study showed that nutrition (diet) and exercise have significant effect in the prevention/control of (CVDs) among the elderly. It is therefore recommended that at the civil service secretariats, universities and other establishments/parastatals, should establish high standard eateries (restaurants) where qualified caterers, would regularly provide nutritious diet, at subsidized rate for workers in this category. In order to enable these class of workers have at least one good meal per day, in addition to a mandatory one- work-free afternoon (2.00pm-4.00pm) for routine/regular physical exercises for these class of workers