Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death among the affluent populations of Western nations. As a result, it should be one of your priorities on the list of diseases you want to prevent. Just because it is common doesn’t mean you have to be a casualty too. There are plenty of ways to fight this and other chronic diseases in 2018, such as the solutions I had the chance to read at https://medtruth.com/drugs-devices/ivc-filter-complications-symptoms/. There are things you can do to protect yourself from this deadly disease. Sure, you don’t control all the risk factors, but you can still do a lot to keep your risk low. Here are three things you could do to make yourself heart disease free today.
1. You Are Responsible for Your Health
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one out of every four deaths in the United States is caused by cardiovascular disease. This equates to approximately 610,000 people annually. Many of these deaths don’t have to happen as they are usually both sudden and premature. Admittedly, we have made progress in the fighting of this disease. Only 40 years ago, the death toll was 40 percent. However, we can do better, and the first step is to start with the individual.
Your risk increases if you have diabetes, are obese or have high blood pressure. The greatest risk, however, comes from being ignorant and misinformed. By not knowing what you can do to safeguard your health, you have increased your risk of suffering from this disease up to tenfold.
You should take responsibility for your health and learn as much as you can about cardiovascular disease and the causes and effective prevention and treatment measures. From the diet you stick to the level of activity in your life and your smoking habits, knowing what to stop and what to start will help you to fight the disease long before it even comes.
2. The Connection with Smoking
Tobacco is known to be one of the highest risk factors for cardiovascular heart disease. The chemicals found in tobacco are capable of wreaking havoc on your blood vessels and causing untold damage. The carbon monoxide replaces the oxygen in your blood, which not only deprives you of oxygen but also increases your blood pressure rapidly.
It’s even worse for women who smoke and are fertile. Women who both smoke and take birth control pills are more prone to heart disease than those who take birth control pills but don’t smoke. It also doesn’t matter if you only smoke a little bit as all smoking is dangerous.
On the flip side, as soon as you stop, the risk lowers significantly and continues to go down for the duration of your abstinence.
3. Cholesterol Levels
There are two types of cholesterol you should know about. LDL is also known as “bad cholesterol†while HDL is known as “good cholesterol.†Your LDL levels should be lower while your HDL levels should be higher. This is determined by what you eat and your age and genetics. While you can’t control the latter two, you have full control of the food you consume. Make sure you keep your food cholesterol free and eat food that lowers LDL levels like nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Red meat is a known high cholesterol source, so you might want to avoid or limit it as well.
Ultimately, there is still a lot of research going on about heart disease and how we can stop it. However, based on what we already know, there is much you can do to stop it, such as eating right, exercising and staying away from smoking in all forms. Do these things in 2018, and you give yourself a fighting chance at a longer life.
Useful Apps
Technology is nearly touching every aspect of our lives, and heart disease is no exception. Below are some samples on heart related apps:
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