TheWellnessLiving Health Tips

How to protect your heart!

Annually, cardiovascular diseases kill about 17 million people. According to specialists, healthy diet, avoid sedentary lifestyle and smoking cessation can reduce by 80% the number of deaths caused by cardiovascular disease. According to data provided by WHO, in our country, cardiovascular mortality rate is 61% of total deaths compared with 37% EU average

Check your blood pressure at least once a year! – Cardiovascular disease is ranked as the cause of death in Europe, both in women and men, according to the European Charter of cardiovascular health. Incidence and consequences of cardiovascular disease can be reduced through early diagnosis, proper management of the disease, recovery and prevention, including advice on lifestyle organization

The main risk factors are hypertension, smoking, high cholesterol. At least 20% of hypertensive patients who present to a medical not know they have hypertension, their blood pressure is even in higher values. For this reason, blood pressure check is required at least once a year, even in the absence of disease manifestations.

Attention to diet! – Lifestyle is a word with many implications: nutrition, smoking, mode of activity (stress), rest periods, exercise, psychological aspects.

It is known that excess pounds are a risk factor for many diseases, and this rule applies in the case of cardiovascular diseases. Above the normal weight is an important risk factor for heart, blood pressure rises, as happens with triglycerides and bad cholesterol (LDL) and good cholesterol (HDL) decreases. Clinical studies show that each kilo lost is important, reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke attack.

As for diet, Dr. Andrew warns that food is medicine, do not cure but works on long term with a prophylactic effect. It indicated to reduce salt consumption, consumption of animal fats and fiber, fruits and vegetables. It is very important to exercise, at least 30 minutes a day.

Eating healthy and exercising are the most important habits to keep your heart in shape – Your heart health is in direct connection with the food you eat. Diversification of healthy eating following the tips below:

• Choose from the vast range of food products that are based on wheat germ.
• Choose different fruits and vegetables .
• Choose a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
• Choose natural juices and nutritional biscuits to quench your need for sweet.
• If you consume alcoholic beverages, should do it moderately.
• Struggling to achieve an appropriate body weight by height and age you have.
• Do not let one day pass without doing exercise.

If you have problems with high cholesterol or if you’re prone to hypertension is advisable to consult a nutritionist. Prepare a nutritional diet, with a reasonable calorie level. Thus, you will eat healthy, preventing cardiovascular diseases which are prone. Nutritionist will follow your progress, encouraging you to not give up.

Get rid of salt! – You can prevent and control blood pressure, giving up at all salt and sodium-based compounds. Here are some tips on how to gradual eliminate the salt:

Use foods with a small amount of sodium or unsalted like vegetables and cereals.
Cooking “spicy” and not “salty”! Use spicy seasonings, herbs ( dill, parsley, celery, thyme, basil, oregano ), lemon, wine and vinegar. Be creative!

Opt for fresh lean meats and, giving up the canned smoked meat.
Unsubscribe processed meat ( like ham and ribs ) salt foods ( such as olives and pickles ) and spices such as mustard, ketch-up and barbecue sauce. Limit yourself to variants lower in sodium soy sauce. To eliminate the amount of sodium, rinse thoroughly with water the canned food. Salt substitutes are rich in potassium, which can hurt people facing health problems. Before replacing salt, ask the advice from a specialist.

Having an electrocardiogram – ECG – EKG

How it works? An electrocardiogram, usually is done by a specialist, but the results are interpreted by a doctor: an internist, family physician, cardiologist, anesthesiologist or surgeon.

Often the ECG equipment is portable, thus the test can be done almost anywhere. If you are admitted / to the hospital your heart may be continuously monitored by ECG system, this process is called telemetry.

During ECG’s

1. You will be stretched on a bed or table. On hands, legs and chest will be placed small discs of metal (electrode). A special cream for ECG will be on the skin to form a barrier between skin and electrodes and to improve management of electrical impulses, but in most cases do not require cream.

2. Electrodes attached to the skin are connected to a machine that reproduces the work of the heart on paper. If is used an old device, the electrodes will be moved at intervals during the test to measure the heart’s electrical activity from different areas of the chest.

3. During the test you are asked / to breathe normally, and sometimes you will be asked / to keep your breath. During the test should not talk.

4. In men who have more hair on his chest, a small area must be erased in order to make contact with the electrodes.

5. After you finish the test and you remove the electrodes might feel a little pinch. Electrodes are used to transfer an image of the heart electrical activity, which will be reproduced on paper.

There is no trouble while an electrocardiogram is done. Thus, this test is performed safely, and mostly there is no reason which don’t allowe you to make an electrocardiography. Usually, a complete test lasts between 5 and 10 minutes.

What to think ?

1. Sometimes test results are normal even though you suffer from a cardiovascular disease.

2. An electrocardiogram can not predict when you will have heart attack.

3. First, an EKG done during a heart attack may look normal or unchanged from a previous ECG. For this reason, the test should be repeated every few days to see the differences.

4. There are other types of electrocardiograms (telemetry, ambulatory).

5. Sometimes EKG abnormalities appeared to be only observed during exercise or while symptoms are manifested.

6. Some doctors believe that people older than 35 years should do this test before they develop cardiovascular disease.

Cholesterol: the key to heart disease

In fact, treatment to lower cholesterol in the category of people who have been diagnosed with heart problems who have such symptoms, is extremely beneficial to the health of the individual. Persons who had a heart attack or heart disease are prone to angina pectoris, peripheral arterial problems, abdominal aortic aneurysm or carotid artery disease, or those who had surgery, may be affected 7 times faster than others.

A lot of studies have shown that those already suffering from heart disease are successful in terms of cholesterol-lowering treatment. No matter what method they choose, they will increase their chances of avoiding a heart attack or other diseases.

Indeed, according to a study done in 1999 on the treatment of revascularization suggests that statin-based treatment – used in an aggressive treatment for lowering total LDL – is as effective as angioplasty in helping people to avoid a heart attack, palpitations, sudden stings. In this study, 314 people with diseases of the coronary artery were randomly chosen to make a treatment daily with their medication. After 18 months, those taking statin (inhibitor reducers) no longer needed a surgical intervention.

Following these trials, specialists recommend aggressive treatment for lowering cholesterol for all categories of persons who survived a heart attack, but also those who have LDL levels greater than 100mg/dl. Moreover, experts note that 70mg/dL LDL in people who have heart problems, is not a good. To control cholesterol, besides medicines should follow a healthy lifestyle, which include a diet and exercise.

New researchs revealed that statin therapy has other effects besides lowering cholesterol, such as improving the functioning of blood vessels narrow. Also, other positive effects that statin may be observable over the body after 30 days of treatment.

Despite the records that a treatment to lower cholesterol is safe and effective in people with heart disease, most people who deserve and need to do a treatment, do not do it. This situation arises because some doctors recommend a wrong medicine, and some patients are treated by the ear.

Cardiovascular disease risk factors

The more a person shows several factors, the greater the chances of developing heart disease. The best way to prevent heart attacks is represented by reducing risk factors. Risk that can be controlled and treated:

• High blood pressure (hypertension) disrupts the smooth functioning of the heart, amplifying the state of weakness. Both heart and arteries are prone to strokes. High blood pressure increases the risk of stroke, of atherosclerosis, causing congestive heart failure, atherosclerosis, kidney failure and eye disease. When this pressure is associated with obesity, smoking, cholesterol increases the risk of sudden attack. High blood pressure tends to increase with the age. Men are exposed to greater risks than women. After the age of 55 years men shows similar trends for accelerating blood pressure. Instead, after 75 years, women are more prone to such risks than men. HTA’s are not usually defined by symptoms, is a real silent killer. If you are suspected of hypertension, should pay more attention to your health. Keeping a proper diet, losing weight (when applicable), practicing a sport regularly, avoid salt and following a strict medication from a medical specialist, you can keep blood pressure under control (ie lower blood pressure to normal levels), decreasing the worsening condition health;

• Hypercholesterolemia (high levels of blood cholesterol) – coronary heart disease risk increases as you achieve a high cholesterol. When present and other risk factors such as hypertension and smoking, exposure from cardiovascular disease is even greater. Cholesterol is found only in animal fats. Some herbal oil, often used in cooking, are high in saturated fats. Transfats results by adding hydrogen to vegetable oils are often used in restaurants and fast foods. Fruits and vegetables contain no cholesterol, are therefore recommended in any diet. If you need medicines to lower cholesterol is better to resort to a healthy diet reduce the amount of cholesterol and improve your cardiovascular health;