Heart Disease
Heart Disease
Heart Disease: Types, Causes, Symptoms and Prevention
Heart disease, sometimes known as heart and circulatory disease, is a broad term that refers to a variety of illnesses that affect your heart. High blood pressure, stroke, and vascular dementia are examples of such conditions. Coronary artery disorders (CAD), such as angina and myocardial infarction, are among the most frequent CVDs (commonly known as a heart attack). Other types of heart disease include cardiomyopathy, abnormal heart rhythms, congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, carditis, aneurysms of the aorta, peripheral arterial disease, thrombotic disease, and venous thrombosis, among others. Conditions that cause blood arteries to constrict or get blocked are referred to as heart disease (coronary heart disease). This may result in a heart attack, angina, or even a stroke in certain cases. Heart disease also includes illnesses that damage the muscle and valves of your cardiac, as well as disorders that produce irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias).
What are the signs and symptoms of heart disease?
Heart disease symptoms might include any of the following, depending on the kind of ailment you have:
- Pain in the chest
- Weakness or numbness in the legs and/or arms,
- Dyspnea (breathlessness)
- Extremely rapid or slow heartbeat, or palpitations
- Experiencing dizziness, light-headedness, or fainting
- Weariness
- Swelling in the limbs
What factors raise the chances of a person developing heart disease?
The term "risk factor" refers to anything that enhances the likelihood of developing a disease or illness. The more the amount of cholesterol you have, the greater your risk of heart disease. It is possible to minimise your risk even if you are unable to modify all your risk factors.
Heart disease is associated with several risk factors, the most significant of which are:
- Smoking
- Stress
- Alcohol consumption
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- High levels of cholesterol in the blood
- Having a poor diet
- Being physically inactive being overweight or obese
- Having a family history of heart disease
- Racial and ethnic origins
- Gender - Men are more prone than women to have heart disease early in life.
- Age – The more your age is, the more you’re prone to developing heart disease.
What is the procedure for diagnosing heart disease?
The diagnosis of coronary heart disease is made based on your symptoms and the illness that your doctor believes you may be suffering from.
Based on your family history, you may be subjected to a variety of tests, which may include:
- A series of blood tests
- X-ray of the chest
- Electrocardiogram (ECG)
- Echocardiogram
- Computed tomography scan
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan
How can a cardiovascular heart disease be treated?
Treatment may vary depending on your disease; however, it will often comprise making lifestyle modifications, taking medicines, implantation of a device such as an ICD or pacemaker, stents, and cardiac surgery.
What can be done to avoid heart disease?
By maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you may help keep your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels within normal ranges, as well as reduce your risk of heart disease. Maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active on a regular basis, avoiding smoking, and consuming nutritious meals and beverages are just a few of the behaviours that may help you avoid heart disease.
Foods, such as fruits, legumes, whole grains, vegetables, and lean protein can help you avoid heart disease. Oily fish, such as sardines, tuna, mackerel and salmon which contain omega-3 fatty acids is also good for the heart.
How can a cardiovascular heart disease be treated?
The following dietary behaviours should be followed to avoid heart disease:
- Maintain control over the size of your servings.
- Consume many fruits and vegetables.
- Whole grains are the best choice.
- Reduce the amount of harmful fats in your diet.
- Protein sources that are low in fat should be chosen.
The practice of vegetarianism may aid in the reversal of heart disease. Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products, non-fat dairy products, and egg whites should make up the bulk of your plate, while fats, refined sugar, and processed carbs should be avoided as much as possible.
FAQs
In 2016, the estimated prevalence of CVDs in India was 54.5 million people. In India, heart and circulatory diseases are now responsible for one in every four fatalities, with ischemic heart disease and stroke accounting for more than 80 percent of this burden.
Tamil Nadu has the highest heart disease.
The worrisome increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, atherogenic dyslipidemia, smoking, central obesity, and physical inactivity in India might be attributed to the rapid increase in the prevalence of coronary risk factors.
Heart attacks are increasing due to poor lifestyle choices, such as lack of exercise and a bad diet.
Heart disease can be prevented by making sure to consume enough of fresh fruits and vegetables while avoiding processed meals as much as possible. Eating a lot of meals that are rich in saturated fat and trans-fat may increase your risk of developing heart disease. Foods rich in fibre and low in saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol may help prevent high cholesterol by lowering blood cholesterol levels.
Men who are aged 45 or older and women who are aged 55 or older are more likely to have a heart attack.
Stress may cause high blood pressure, which increases the chance of having a heart attack or having a stroke. Stress may also have a role in the development of heart disease risk factors such as smoking, overeating, and a lack of exercise.
Yes, complications of heart can cause lack of sleep. As an example, pain and discomfort in the chest make it difficult to relax and fall or stay asleep.
Having too much stress for an extended period of time is hazardous for your heart. If you are often stressed and do not have effective methods of dealing with it, you are more likely to develop heart disease, high blood pressure, chest discomfort, or irregular heartbeats in the future.
We may not be able to cure cardiac disease, but we can certainly make it better. Fortunately, most types of heart disease are highly curable these days. The normalization of high blood pressure and the reduction of cholesterol to extremely low levels have been shown to partly repair plaques in the coronary arteries.