How Do You Get Heart Disease - The Risk FactorsImagine waking up in the emergency room and being told that you had a heart attack. The last thing you remember was feeling rushed to type figures into the report. You did feel stressed and overwhelmed, but you never had any heart trouble. That's what you thought. Your body knew differently. Heart disease was lurking just inside your chest until that moment when the heart attack struck. Once you hear those important words from the doctor, "you are going to live", then the questions start. "Ok, doctor, how do you get heart disease?" "Simple", the doctor replies, "by choice or by chance." Choice involves ongoing lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and sedentary lifestyle. Chance is heredity, what you inherit from your family genes.
Choice risk factors can be identified then systematically controlled by medication and diet or eliminated. A smoker absolutely must stop smoking. Not cut back; stop. Losing weight in a safe, medically approved manner is just as critical to long term heart disease recovery. Getting to the weight that is within the healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) does wonders to improve and sometimes eliminate diabetes, so weight loss is a two for one deal. Changing diet to reduce cholesterol rich foods also helps the high cholesterol problem. High cholesterol and high blood pressure may require medication support. As for sedentary lifestyle, put down the remote and get moving. Walk, bike, run or enroll in a workout group. Chance risk factors are more complex because they are the ticking time bomb that cannot be eliminated. Early detection of heart disease can literally save your life. If your family has a history of heart disease before age 55 for men and 65 for women, then you need a heart health evaluation every five years starting at age 20. While you cannot control heredity heart disease risks, you must avoid the risk factors that pile on due to poor lifestyle choices. Adults with congenital heart defects know the type of heart disease, treatment requirements and future risks. Some congenital heart disease problems are corrected by surgery in childhood while others are monitored closely over the lifetime. For them heart disease is not a surprise, it's been a part of their lives since infancy or early childhood. Even healthy hearts can get off track which is a simplistic way of explaining an arrhythmia. Over two million Americans have arrhythmias which are sudden irregularities in the heart beat. For many people, this is not a problem. For others, an arrhythmia is an early warning signal of heart disease or stroke that demands attention. Heart disease is no longer the doomsday prediction of sedentary life and early death. The options for treatment of heart disease and recovery from heart attack are varied and many have good success rates. While heart disease is a serious medical condition that needs monitoring, medication and lifestyle changes, people with heart disease lead productive, active lives. |