Heart Disease
What is Heart Disease?
- Heart disease refers to a number of problems affecting the heart and the blood vessels of the heart
- Some of these problems include:
– Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)
– Heart Failure
– Heart Arrhythmias
- Heart disease kills more than 500,000 people in the United States every year
What is Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)?
- CAD is when arteries become hard and narrow, making it hard for blood to reach the heart
- CAD can cause other problems such as Angina
– Angina-chest pain and discomfort. Angina is not a heart attack but means you are high risk for having a heart attack
– Angina may feel like a tightness in your chest or back
– May feel like indigestion
What is Heart Failure?
- Heart failure happens when the heart is not able to pump blood through the body as well as it should
- The heart is responsible for pumping blood to all the organs in the body which all need blood
- Heart failure does NOT mean the heart stops beating
- Symptoms of heart failure include:
– Shortness of breath
– Extreme tiredness
– Swollen legs ankles and feet
What is a Heart Attack?
- A heart attack happens when an artery is seriously or completely blocked
- When the artery is blocked, blood cannot travel through the artery and get to the heart
- When the heart does not have enough blood, a heart attack occurs
- Symptoms of a heart attack include:
– Pain or discomfort in the center of the chest, may feel like a squeeze or tightening feeling
– Pain or discomfort in the arms, back, neck or jaw
– Shortness of breath
– Breaking out in a cold sweat
– Feeling sick
– dizzy
- Most heart attacks happen slowly, you may not realize you are having a heart attack at first
- If you think you are having a heart attack call 9-1-1 FAST
What are Risk factors for Heart Disease?
- The following are uncontrollable risk factors for heart disease:
– Being a man
– Being of older age
– Having a family history of heart disease
– Being post-menopausal
– If you are African America, American Indian or Mexican
- The following are controllable risk factors for heart disease:
– Smoking
– High blood pressure
– High cholesterol
– Physical inactivity
– Poor diet
– Obesity
– Uncontrolled diabetes
– High stress and anger
How Can I Prevent Heart Disease?
- Quit smoking- smokers have more than a 2x greater risk of heart disease than non smokers. If you live with a smoker you are at greater risk too
- Lower your blood pressure
- Lower your cholesterol levels, especially the bad cholesterol
- Add exercise and good nutrition to your life
- Lose weight
- Control your diabetes
- Reduce stress and anger
