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Your Health – The Important Things to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease

Posted on | September 8, 2009 | No Comments

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Genes may be the most important factor in determining a person’s risk of having a stroke. A study of thousands of male twins in essentially the same environment found that strokes were five times as common in identical twins whose twin had had a stroke as in  fraternal twins.

Twin studies are useful because they help separate the influence of genes from the influences of lifestyle such as diet. Identical twins have the same genes; fraternal twins generally do not. The study suggests that genes may be more important than high blood pressure as a risk factor for strokes. The observation may one day determine, through genes, who is at greatest risk of having a stroke. A much greater difference in genes and strokes might be apparent if individuals with identical genes could be compared with individuals of entirely different genes.

Then the ones at greatest risk genetically could minimize their risk early in life by making important lifestyle adjustments such as in diet, exercise and not smoking.

heart-attack
Breathless
When the heart, damaged from one of various causes, cannot pump out all the blood returning to it, the condition is called congestive heart failure. One or the most common ailments in individuals over the age of 60, it can also occur in the young, and in infasts with congenital heart defects.

Over 400,000 new cases occur each year in this country. Breathlessness during simple physical exertion is a common first sign. Swelling of legs or ankles often occurs. As the condition progresses, it can cause symptoms involving all the organs of the body that can function properly only with an adequate supply of oxygen. Symptoms may even occur at rest. Physical activity and diet are all important in limiting effects of congestive heart failure. Medicines can help. So can surgery.

Heart Risks of Winter
Cold weather makes increasing demands on the cardiovascular system. The body responds to exposure to cold by narrowing the blood vessels to reduce the loss of heat through the skin. Even the coronary arteries, which supply bloods to the heart, may become narrowed. The constriction causes blood pressure to rise and forces the left ventricle of the heart to work harder to eject the blood into the aorta. Inadequate blood flow (ischemia) may occur. Physicians ask their patients, “Do you feel chest pressure when you walk uphill in the cold?”

The tendency of blood to clot and possibly clog the coronary arteries is also greater. Studies have found surges in cardiovascular deaths after snowstorms. A recent study under controlled conditions measured the stress associated with shoveling snow. One test group with coronary disease paced themselves to ease the load on the heart. The other group with no coronary disease shoveled at a normal rate. The data from a variety of measurement were simplified into commonsense guidelines:

First, people with breathlessness due to heart disease should avoid shoveling after moderate or heavy snowfalls. They should shovel light snow only if they have demonstrated their ability to perform that level of activity in other settings, such as walking at 1.7 miles per hour up a 10 – degree incline without evidence of ischemia, or through a formal exercise stress test.

People who have never been examined for heart disease should heed such symptoms as chest discomfort, breathlessness or light – headedness that may raise the red flag of an overload of their cardiovascular capacity. Shoveling snow is harder than it looks. It involves many of the body’s major muscle groups all at once, unlike exercising on gym machines designed to affect a specific muscle group.

Food & Exercise Vs Disease
More than 60 million Americans have high blood pressure. They become candidates for strokes as well as heart and kidney disease. About 1.5 million Americans will suffer heart attacks this year, and a third will die, most of them before they reach the hospital. Diet can help prevent heart disease and hypertension. But can it unclog your arteries and help lower your blood pressure? Growing evidence suggest that it can.

More than 300,000 angioplasties were performed last year: threading the tiny balloons into the arteries that feed the heart muscle to shove aside the accumulated plaque (cost: $ 20,000 plus other expenses). The procedure offers relief and saves lives, but the blockage can recur, sometimes within six months. Bypass surgery remains questionable also.

Research has shown that a combination of diet and exercise helps widen arteries. A sharp drop in body – fat also helps. Along with exercise, it’s largely a matter of reducing fat and cholesterol intake and increasing fiber intake. Angiograms show widened arteries over time in almost 40% of people following the regimen. The rates of death, heart attack and stroke dropped significantly.

Unfortunately, however, only about two out of five people on hypertension medication are able to keep their blood pressure under control. Also the expense and side effects of drugs must be considered.

And now for the good news:
Norman Kaplan of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre at Dallas and chairman of the Joint National Committee for the Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of Hypertension says: “In more than half of all people with ‘high normal’ blood pressure, diet and exercise can stop it from becoming worse. Even people with Stage 1 hypertension [140 - 159 systolic/90 - 99 diastolic] can avoid drugs if they lose excess weight through diet and exercise and reduce their sodium intake to about 2,000 mg a day.”

Category: Cardiovascular, Diet, Exercise
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