Lower Your Heart Attack Risk
Heart attacks are the number one cause of death in the United States. Find out what causes them, and what you can do to lower your risk.
John is 52 years old, and well educated. He has had slightly high blood pressure that is controlled with medication, and knew that his weight had crept up over the past few years. But he wasn’t expecting a heart attack.
“It was after dinner and I was watching T.V,” he says. “I felt as if someone was sitting on my chest. It’s a good thing my wife was with me. She called 911 and I got to the hospital right away.”
Now he has changed his lifestyle dramatically in the past few months since he was told that he had suffered from a heart attack. “I eat a lot more vegetables, and I don’t eat sausage or lots of deep fried foods.” He turns to his wife and grins. “It’s hard, I know, but I want to be around for awhile.”
There are millions of people like John, who are at risk for a heart attack and aren’t even aware. Heart disease is the number one killer in America, but often there is no warning. In fact, in the majority of people who die suddenly of coronary artery disease, there were no previous symptoms.
Causes of a Heart Attack
Our hearts are mainly made of muscle and need a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to feed it. A network of coronary arteries supplies this blood.
Over time, in many people there is a gradual buildup of plaque (cholesterol and other substances) inside of the blood vessels. This plaque causes a gradual narrowing of the arteries and less blood can flow to the heart muscle. If a blood clot or broken piece of plaque completely blocks the artery and stops the flow of blood, the area of muscle supplied can become injured or dies. This is known as a myocardial infarction, or heart attack. (Infarction means death from lack of oxygen, and myocardial refers to heart muscle).
In order to prevent a heart attack, it is important to learn how to stop this buildup of plaque and/or clotting of the arteries.
Risk Factors for Heart Disease
There are two types of risk factors that have been identified by studies such as the Framingham Heart Study. Some of these risk factors are not modifiable and can’t be changed, such as your genetics: if everyone in your family had a heart attack at an early age, you are at higher risk yourself.
Ethnic group is another risk factor (some groups such as African Americans, Hispanic people, and certain Asian ethnic groups have a higher risk of high blood pressure). Sex is also another risk factor with men more likely than women before menopause of having a heart attack. Age is another one: the older we are the greater the risk of a heart attack.
But these studies also identified risk factors that can be controlled. The big three risk factors are blood pressure, total cholesterol , and whether a person smokes.
The higher your total cholesterol the greater your risk of heart disease. A total cholesterol below 200 is considered low risk, and one above 240 is high risk. (There is a good cholesterol, though, known as High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) which seems to have the effect of taking up cholesterol from inside the arteries to the liver to be excreted. High levels of HDL are considered good and heart protective).
Smoking is considered a major risk factor for heart disease and doubles the risk for a heart attack. And the person who smokes is also more likely to die if they have a heart attack than the nonsmoker who has one.
High blood pressure makes the heart work harder and it obtains less blood flow. It can also cause plaque formation to increase.