Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Risk Factors for Heart Disease .One of the best ways for you to ensure that you aren’t going to suffer from heart disease or heart attacks is to understand some of the risk factors for heart disease. There are many risk factors that you do not have any control over such your family history and age. But there are certain factors that you have full control of in order to prevent heart problems or a heart attack. For example, to reduce the risk of heart attack, you can change your diet, lifestyle and attitude.

 Genetic or Family History

If you have a family history of people with heart disease, this can increase your chances of developing a similar type of condition. With the combination of heredity and unhealthy life choices such as eating unhealthy foods and smoking, the risk of heart disease can increase even more. If you take the necessary steps to look after your heart, you can reduce the chances of developing all forms of heart disease.
After menopause, some women are more likely to develop heart problems. It is because at this stage of their life, they are producing less estrogen. Hence, to reduce the risk of heart disease, they need to vary their diet accordingly.

 Obesity and its Effects

Obesity is a growing global health problem. Someone who is obese has four times the likelihood of developing heart diseases. Furthermore, those with a family history of high blood pressure or diabetes will have a greater risk for heart disease.
Obesity is now recognized as an inflammatory disease; it is often thought to be a symptom or indication of other conditions a person may have. Not as it used to be considered, just an eating disorder. Different studies have confirmed that obesity is a major contributor to causing heart disease and heart attacks.

 Poor Diet, The wrong foods, Clogged Heart Vessels – Strokes

There is absolutely no doubt that having a poor diet or a diet that is deficient in many vital nutrients is a leading contributor to the extremely high incidences of heart disease that have become a reality for many people today.
Our foods have been stripped of a significant portion of their natural goodness by processing and the synthetic methods used to grow them. Processed salt, highly refined grains, high fructose corn syrup and refined vegetable oils are the four “poisons” that are found in most of our diets. The combination of these, clog up the arteries and blood vessels of the lungs and heart causing heart disease.

 Smoking

Everyone is aware that smoking is likely to damage your lungs, but many do not seem to realize that it is also a major risk factor for heart disease. In fact about one in every five people who die from a heart attack because of smoking. If you smoke, you are at least four times more likely to get heart disease than non-smokers. And the risks are even higher for women who take birth control pills.
Secondhand smoke exposure is also a risk factor for having a heart attack.

The nicotine in cigarette smoke reduces the oxygenation of your blood. As a result, the amount of oxygen your lungs can send to your heart will be significantly reduced. It also leads to high blood pressure and increased heart rate due to the compensation mechanism that your body triggered when it’s deprived of oxygen. Nicotine is also known to harm the inner walls of blood vessels and arteries, and also forms unwanted blood clots.

 Drinking

Consuming a small amount of alcohol can benefit our health. Examples of health benefits are:

•   Preventing heart diseases
•   Lowers the risk of developing ischemic stroke (Which occurs when your coronary arteries are blocked or narrowed, resulting in decreased blood supply)
•  Possibly reduce your risk of diabetes

However, doctors will never advise heart patients to drink alcohol in any case. It’s because 90% of the patients who’re allowed to drink alcohol won’t be able to control themselves! Instead of drinking a little, they end up chugging down the whole bottle, especially chronic alcoholics.

You can only reap the benefits by drinking a small amount, any more than that the recommended volume is detrimental.
So how does alcohol helps in preventing heart diseases? Drinking a small amount of alcohol can help to raise good cholesterol (HDL) levels and at the same time reduces bad cholesterol (LDL) levels. It also helps to stop blood clotting, tends to thin the blood, allow for easier bleeding and could help to hold off a heart attack, but only if used in moderation.

 High Cholesterol

Cholesterol has been blamed for heart disease for many years, but it is now known that cholesterol is in fact healthy. In fact, it’s one of the most important substances the body produces. After all, the body needs cholesterol to carry out its functions. For instance, our brain and liver are made of good cholesterol.

Our body can produce cholesterol on its own. However, the problem arises when we consume too much ‘bad’ cholesterol, also known as LDL or low-density lipoproteins. Eating processed sugars, hydrogenated vegetable oils and too much omega-6 fatty acids causes an oversupply of LDL.LDL helps to carry cholesterol around our body to the areas that need it. When there is too much of it, the excess can cling to the walls of the arteries, irritating and clogging them up, preventing enough oxygen-rich blood reaching your brain, heart, and other organs.

 Diabetes

People with diabetes tend to have a high blood glucose level, which can damage your blood vessels and the nerves that control the blood vessels in your heart in the long-term. Many people with diabetes can develop heart disease at a young age, and those with diabetes are almost twice as likely to have heart failure as non-diabetics.As with all heart conditions, if you take the proper steps to manage your diabetes, your risk factors will be substantially reduced. 

 Physical Activity

Doing very little or no physical activity is a major cause of heart disease and heart attacks. This is because they cannot burn up the excess calories, which results in fat tissues formation. The body is designed to perform a certain amount of activity daily to keep it supple, healthy and function properly.

When the body takes in more food or energy than it needs over an extended period, this will lead to obesity, which can result in many diseases. The body needs exercise to stay in peak condition, which is a good way to train a heart health.