Heart disease is the number one killer out there. We often hear about women and heart disease but what about men? It is number one for them too.

Heart disease affects not only the heart but the entire cardiovascular system. When someone has a heart attack it is because blood couldn’t reach a certain part of the heart through the coronary arteries. There can be congenital defects that affect the heart as well as stenosis in the aorta and other blood vessels of the body.

When it comes to your heart, there is no playing around. Heart disease doesn’t develop all at once but over time. But the risk can be reduced and many risk factors may be reversed with proper care of your heart and the rest of your body.

Here are a few ways that men can improve their chances of avoiding heart disease in their life:  Read more...

There are a number of abnormal physical conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels leading to the heart that can be classified as heart disease and are known as coronary artery disease (CAD) which includes angina, and heart attack, heart failure which may have the symptoms of shortness of breath, swelling feet, ankles and legs, and also extreme tiredness.

Heart arrhythmias are also considered to be heart disease as they can make people feel out of breath, dizzy and experience chest pains. They are changes in heartbeat that feel like flutters. If you experience heart arrhythmias and feel like you can’t get enough air, you need to call 911 immediately and get prompt medical attention.

One in every three women in America may die of heart disease. Twice as many women die of cardiovascular diseases than men. Females of all ages need to be aware of the risks of heart disease and improve those risks that they can change.

Reducing Your Risk for Heart Disease:  Read more...

Individuals who have controllable risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, having an inactive lifestyle, obesity and smoking can make changes that will decrease their risk for heart disease.

The first step in controlling your risk factors for heart disease is to recognize what your risk factors are? Are you overweight or obese? Do you smoke? Do you have high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol? Are you physically inactive?

If you said yes to any of these questions than you have risk factors for heart disease that you can control. In order to find out if you are overweight, obese, have high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol you will need to make an appointment with a medical doctor.

A doctor can weight you and take your height measurement to find out if these measurements show that you are overweight or obese. If you are overweight or obese your doctor can help you to make better food choices, and to watch your portion sizes by knowing how to find out what the portion size is for the foods you eat.  Read more...

To prevent or avoid heart disease you need to avoid tobacco products, become more active and choose to eat good nutrition. These three things will help you to avoid heart disease. Most people have a difficult time committing to doing these three things because it involves making lifestyle changes.

Smoking is a difficult habit to break, and if you are used to sitting all day at work or at school is it difficult to do what needs to be done to be physically active. Motivation is what is lacking when it comes to exercise. Unfortunately all to often it is bad health that motivates in the end to make lifestyle changes.

We lead a fast-paced life where grabbing a quick bite to eat at a fast-food restaurant is more often what today’s families see as the reality to the family meal instead of a sit-down around the table family meal that past generations were brought up doing. These meals on the go are usually not nutritious. Breaking this eating habit and developing healthy eating habits is difficult to do.  Read more...

Fiber is a necessary part of your diet but in this day and age of carbonated sodas, Twinkies and other processed foods, you may not be getting enough. Plant derived fiber is best for your health but do you even know why fiber is so important? First of all, fiber is the nutritional way to “roto-rooter” your digestive tract.

Because fiber is bulky, it will slow down digestion, making you feel fuller faster, preventing you from overeating. Next, it acts like one of those trucks that brush the street, sweeping undigested food debris, cholesterol and other unhealthy deposits out through the intestines for eventual elimination.

Lowering cancer risks as well as heart disease are two other positive by-products to boosting your fiber intake. In fact, many studies show that fiber can significantly reduce a variety of heart ailments. The health benefits that fiber provides is invaluable and the reason why people who do not get enough often end up taking supplements.  Read more...

Heart disease is actually any condition or disorder in which the ability of the heart to perform is adversely affected.

There are many forms of heart disease including alcoholic cardiomyopathy, aortic regurgitation, aortic stenosis, arrhythmias, carcinogenic shock, congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease (CAD), endocarditis, heart attack also called a myocardial infarction, heart failure, heart tumor, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, idiopathic cardiomyopathy, ischemic cardiomyopathy, acute mitral regurgitation, chronic mitral regurgitation, mitral stenosis, mitral valve prolapse, peripartum cardiomyopathy, pulmonary stenosis, stable angina, unstable angina and also tricuspid regurgitation.

There are many things that can cause or lead to heart disease including narrowing of or a blockage of the coronary arteries that are responsible for supplying blood to the heart. Some cases of heart disease are present at birth such as congenital heart disease and others occur as we go through life and can include hypertension (high blood pressure), abnormal heart valve function, an abnormal heart rhythm, and a weakening of the heart’s ability to pump that can happen when there is infection or a toxin present in the bloodstream.  Read more...

There are two types of risk factors for heart disease, those that are controllable and those that you cannot control. The main risk factors for heart disease are being male, becoming older, a family history of heart disease, being a woman who is post-menopausal, and being African American, American Indian, or being Mexican American. These risk factors are the ones that you cannot control.

The risk factors for heart disease that you can control are smoking, having high LDL cholesterol or low HDL cholesterol, whether you are physically active or not, obesity, and having uncontrolled diabetes, or a high C-reactive protein, and also having uncontrolled stress or anger.

You can lower your risk for heart disease by making lifestyle changes that will lower those risks of heart disease that you can control. You can make lifestyle changes that will improve your eating habits or you can become more physically active each day.

You can stop smoking cigarettes if you currently smoke, and you can keep regular appointments with your doctor so that you can learn how to monitor disease such as diabetes and control your cholesterol and blood pressure.  Read more...

Sometimes heart disease has no symptoms and is detected during a routine physical examination. Other times individuals may experience warming physical symptoms or signs such as feeling short of breath, feeling dizzy, experiencing nausea, or by having abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias), they may also feel more fatigued than normal without any physical reason for the fatigue.

Other symptoms are feeling a pain or discomfort in the center of your chest, pain or discomfort in the upper body, arms, back, neck, jaw, or stomach area. Some individuals feel short of breath, or break out in a cold sweat, or feel faint or woozy.

Women may experience different symptoms from males such as unusual tiredness, or trouble sleeping, difficulty breathing, indigestion, or a feeling of intense anxiety. Signs of a heart attack can come from your brain, your chest area, your skin, your lungs, your stomach and your general body. You can experience symptoms from your chest, your arms, back, jaw, shoulders, or your neck.  Read more...