Heart Disease (another scary word)

IB_Biology-_All_you_need_to_know_about_the_heart . Heart Disease is another scary word, the heart is one of the most vital organs in the body. One in four people dies of heart disease every year. The majority of people think of a heart attack when they hear it.

That is not necessarily the case, it could mean arrhythmia which is an irregular heartbeat or cardiomyopathy, which is a chronic disease of the heart muscle. Yeah, they are bad, but they do not mean heart attack. They are conditions, that can be treated, with the proper medications. Remember the heart is responsible for the circulation of blood and oxygen through the body. We have to do we can to focus on our heart health to help reduce the disease. OK, then, what is heart disease?

 

What is Heart Disease?

Any condition of the heart or the blood vessels supplying it, that impairs cardiac functionality. The formation of plaque in the artery walls, causing them to narrow reducing blood flow to the body starving it of blood, oxygen, and nutrients.

Now there are many causes for heart disease, which might be in the blood vessels, arteries or the heart muscles’ or any part of the heart. We will be discussing them below, and give you a little more heads-up on them, to help you become more aware and prepared for coping with heart diseases.

Heart Disease (Types)

Coronary – Is the buildup of plaque in the arteries and the most common type of heart disease.

Congenital Heart defect – This is something we are born with, that makes us feel tired easily and out of breath. A person with this defect may have pale or discolored skin.

Heart Failure – I’m sure we’ve all heard of it, but do you know what it is. It means the heart can’t pump enough blood to the parts of the body, that it needs. Due usually to coronary artery disease. Then, over time, the heart enlarges as it pumps faster. This could result in a heart attack.

Heart Rhythm malfunctions

Cardiomyopathy – You may or may not have heard of this one, but it is a disease of the heart muscles’. Where the heart can’t pump enough and carry blood to the body, because of the abnormal muscles’. Over time the muscles’ tissue, may even be replaced by scar tissue. As the heart, will get weaker, the blood it pumps in the body gets less and less. In time the problem may cause high blood pressure, that might lead to heart failure.

Arrhythmia – An irregular heartbeat, you may have heard of this one. Where, your heart, which beats from electrical impulses get out of rhythm. This causes all sorts of problems when the heart can’t pump the right amount of blood to the body parts, whether the lungs, kidneys or whatever organ in the body, they will not function properly. This may cause them to become damaged or shut down.

High Blood Pressure Problems

Atherosclerosis – Clogged arteries, the fatty buildup of cholesterol in the arteries called plaque. Plaque buildup in the

arteries reduce the blood flow and oxygen supply to the cells. Making the heart pump harder and faster, to get the blood through. Many people don’t realize they even have a problem until the arteries become completely clogged and have a heart attack.

 

 

 

Hypertension (high blood pressure) – It is not heart disease, but it does increase the risk of it. Hypertension is brought on by smoking, excessive alcohol drinking, obesity or it could even be hereditary. The dangers of too much blood pushing against artery walls is kinda like too much water pressure in a water line, we know what could happen and, which is burst. We do not want that, to happen to our arteries, so we got to control our blood pressure.

Heart Disease (symptoms)

There are many symptoms to heart disease, some you might not even realize, are symptoms. This is why, we need to be aware of these, for our own safety, and our families. These are warning signs……………………

Pain – This pain can be in our chest, arms, neck, or face. When we have this pains, we should be very aware that they could be a sign of a heart disease and maybe even a heart attack. That’s when we need to take action and not wait and get to your doctor or emergency room.

Shortness of breath – Even though you might not think it, when you start finding it hard to get deep breaths, it could be a heart problem, and you need to see your doctor right away if the problem persists.

Chest tightness – Here again, when we find it hard to breathe, and our chest feels tight and hurts. This is another sign of a heart attack and you should be on the way to the emergency room for precautionary reason.

Other Symptoms—–

Numbness – This is a strong sign of heart disease. When you feel numbness in your arms or other parts of your body could be the arteries being blocked, or partially blocked. Stopping blood flow to your extremities, causing them to be cold or numb. Which in turn, can cause a stroke or heart attack.

Swelling – This is caused by the thickening of the heart muscles’, which causes parts of the body to swell. Which could include the feet, legs, arms or other parts of the body. When this starts happening, you need to seek medical care soon, and not put it off too long.

Dizziness – This is one, that you might overlook, for a heart symptom. I wouldn’t count it out, because when certain blood vessels going to the brain, get cut off, and the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen, you can become dizzy or lightheaded.

Heart Disease (prevention)

The recipe for heart disease prevention is clean arteries and veins. There are other things that can reduce the chances of getting heart disease. These things will be discussed hear……………………..

• Smoking – The first thing we need to do, if we are a smoker, is to quit. Smoking is one of the main causes of heart disease. It shrinks the arteries which cause a reduction in blood flow, for our own health, we need to stop.
• Alcohol – The next thing that will help reduce, the chances for this disease, is to limit our intake of alcohol. Excessive alcohol intake will deplete the electrolytes in the body. Even small amounts can raise blood pressure.  Without the body getting the right vitamins it will lead to malnutrition.
• Exercise – Daily exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease. Doing daily exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day can also help with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. There are other health benefits for the whole body, staying active daily. There should always be something you can do.
• Diet – Reducing our intake of saturated fats, high sodium and sugars is a big step in reducing the risk factors as well. We should swap them with fruits, vegetables, and whole grain foods along with other healthy foods.

(causes)

• High blood pressure – Controlling this is a major step in preventing heart disease. You should have your blood pressure checked regularly. This can be characterized as a cause and a symptom.
• Healthy weight – Keeping a healthy weight, can help decrease your chances of heart disease. Obesity increases your risk factor greatly.
• Cholesterol – This is a most important thing to keep an eye on because high levels of cholesterol in the blood can clog the arteries. We need to keep our good cholesterol(HDL) high and our bad cholesterol(LDL) low to keep from this risk.
• Stress – This is something that I think gets forgotten more often because they don’t realize it. Stress can cause your blood pressure to go up, and certain kinds of stress could cause a heart attack.

Now all this, are things we can control or change for ourselves to have Heart Health

Heart Disease (Things we can’t control)

Now, these things we have no control over when it comes to our heart.

• Genetics – If we have a family history of heart disease, then we’ve got a greater risk, and there is nothing that we can do, to change it. If our parents or grandparents or any other family member had heart disease, then our
  

  ……………Genetics-Family-Age……………..

  chances are greater, to have it.

• Age – Plays a big role in our risk factors, the older we are, the greater our risk, that’s something we can’t change, we are going to get older, and our risk will get greater.
• Gender -All though some studies have shown it to be about even, diabetes raises the risk for heart disease, more in women than in men. Things may change over time and under different circumstances.

Reasons why these articles were written

livegreaterhealth.com has put this information out to make people aware of this health issue, that can affect you, or a family member in some way. We want everybody to be more conscious of heart disease, it affects one in four people. Getting more people to exercise, and become more active will help reduce the threat of heart disease. Our goal is to make people aware of the dangers of heart disease and the steps we can take to help prevent it.

Conclusion

I think, the more of these articles, that get spread throughout this world, The more it will help play a major role in preventing this terrible disease. If you liked this article or want to know more about some of the things discussed here, or any other health topic, leave us a comment below, and we will get back to you.

These health topics are designed to inform and help the people that may have or know someone that may have this condition. We want you to tell us, what you need or want to know about, by leaving us a comment below.

Good luck to all