The term “heart disease” is used to describe a variety of medical issues that affect the heart. Diseases in this category include blood vessels conditions like coronary artery disease, arrhythmias/heart rhythm problems and heart defects that a person is born with, to name but a few.
“Heart disease” is a term frequently used in place of “cardiovascular disease,” which normally refers to medical conditions involving blocked or narrowed blood vessels that can result in heart attack, stroke, or chest pain (angina). Other heart issues, like those that have an adverse affect on the heart’s valves, rhythm or muscle, are also considered to be types of heart disease.
There are a number of Heart Attack Risk Factors, some you can control and others that you can’t.
Those that cannot be controlled include:
• Age — as you get older, the higher your risk of heart disease becomes.
• When there is a history of heart conditions in your family.
• When you are post-menopausal.
• Whether you are male or female — men have a greater risk of heart disease.
On the other hand, there are several risk factors that you can control, by simply adjusting your lifestyle. Controllable risk factors include:
• “Good” cholesterol (low LDL) and “bad” cholesterol (high LDL)
• Smoking
• Little to no exercise
• Uncontrolled high blood pressure
• Uncontrolled stress and anger
• Uncontrolled diabetes
• Obesity
What you can do to reduce your risk factors
Studies show that lifestyle changes can lower your chances of heart disease. Even though these changes cannot guarantee that you will never have heart problems, they can definitely enhance your health in many other ways. You can make changes like:
• Improving your cholesterol levels by changing to a diet that is low in cholesterol, trans and saturated fats and simple sugars. Staying active also helps to keep cholesterol under control. Medications are also used to manage cholesterol levels.
• Quitting smoking, since smokers have more than double the chance of heart issues than those who don’t smoke.
• Getting into a regular exercise routine by jogging, brisk walking, swimming, cycling and jumping rope.
• Managing your blood pressure through exercise, diet, weight control, as well as medication, if necessary.
• Manage your stress and anger levels by starting to include relaxation techniques like tai chi, yoga or massage into your daily routine.
• Control your diabetes through diet, sticking to a healthy weight, exercise and medications
• Control your weight, since those extra pounds add significant, unnecessary strain on your heart
Apart from the risk factors that you are unable to control, there are several of those that you can control. Lower your Heart Attack Risk Factors by making a few simple but extremely important changes to your lifestyle.
