What Do You Know About Heart Disease?

What do you know about heart disease? Did you know it was the number one killer of both men and women in the United States? Did you know that there are three factors, which if they exist in your body may predispose you to having a heart attack? Did you know that the symptoms of a heart attack in women are different from those of a man? This article will address these questions, so that you, or someone you love can take the appropriate actions to prevent a heart attack.

The three risk factors associated with heart attack are high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure. With each one of these risk factors, there are other risk factors which you may or may not be able to control. Genetics is something you cannot control, but you can take steps to minimize the effects of family history or predisposition. Your diet is definitely under your control as is how much exercise you get. Lifestyle choices are something you can control, such as stop smoking and reducing excessive drinking.

Your blood pressure should be 130/80 or below. If you are diabetic or have kidney disease your ideal blood pressure should be 140/90. Concerning your cholesterol level, you are going to want to reduce your LDL (bad cholesterol) and work to increase your HDL (good cholesterol). Diet and exercise will help control your cholesterol unless your doctor determines you need to take medication to get greater control of this condition. You should learn the symptoms of diabetes, especially if there is no one in your family who has ever had diabetes. Apparently, our diet and lack of exercise is making many Americans, who have never had a family history of it in the past, predisposed to this disease.

Symptoms for a heart attack in men are well documented and for a long time, it was thought they were the same for women. However now, medical science has determined that the symptoms for heart attacks in women are different. In the man, the symptoms are pain in the chest as if someone is standing on it, or some other discomfort in the chest, upper back, neck or arms associated with shortness of breath or fatigue. Many times these symptoms accompany heavy physical activity or stressful or emotional experiences. For women their symptoms include cold sweats, dizziness, burning feelings in the stomach or chest, irregular heartbeat, nausea as well as some of the other symptoms associated with the male heart attack of chest pain, pain and, or pain in one or, both arms, and shortness of breath.

Many times women will report one or more of these symptoms about a month before the heart attack takes place. The age of 50 is the age doctors will begin looking for signs of heart attack in their patients; however, women typically do not start having heart attacks until the age of 60. Unless there is a family history of heart attack, and then it becomes a matter of case by case evaluation for risk factors. The best thing that anyone can do to prevent heart attack is to be mindful of their diet, have some kind of exercise program, and refrain from smoking and excessive drinking.