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Heart Disease - Understanding the Basics

Heart disease is a term used to describe several conditions or diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels. Heart Disease is the number one cause of death worldwide and accounts for more than 40 percent of all deaths in the United States.

Your personal risk for developing many forms of heart disease can be reduced through a healthy lifestyle. Risks factors for heart disease include characteristics or behaviors that increase your chance of developing heart disease – the more risk factors you have, the greater your risk.

There are several risk factors that can put you at increased risk. The key to maintaining a healthy heart is to understand and manage your risk factors.

Understanding Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Risks that you cannot control:

Age: Men over 45 and women over 55 are at increased risk

Gender: Men have greater risk earlier in life, however by age 65 a women’s risk is almost equal

Race: American Indians, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans are at higher risk for developing heart disease

Risk that you can control:

Avoid Tobacco – it’s the single best thing you can do for your health. Period.

Smoking is recognized as the single greatest preventable cause of death in the United States. Causing more than 440,000 deaths each year, it tops the list of major risk factors associated with the development of heart disease. If you smoke you are twice as likely to have a heart attack, and less likely to survive a heart attack.

Get Active – get 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Active people have about half the risk of developing heart disease when compared to individuals who are sedentary.

Low levels of physical activity can increase your chance of developing other heart disease risk factors, such as, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol.

Manage your weight – excess weight increases how hard your heart has to work. It can also increase cholesterol, blood pressure and your risk of developing diabetes. If you need to lose weight start by setting a goal – losing just 10 percent of your body weight provides significant benefits to the health of your heart.

Know your numbers – understanding and managing blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes are critical to the health of your heart.

Total Cholesterol	Desired: 199mg/dL or less Borderline high: 200 to 239 mg/dL High: 240 mg/dL and above
LDL-Cholesterol	Less than 100 mg/dL
HDL-Cholesterol	Men: 40 mg/dL or more Women: 50 mg/dL or more The higher, the better High HDL: 60 mg/dL or more
Triglycerides (fasting)	Desired: less than 150 mg/dL Borderline high: 150 to 199 mg/dL High: 200 to 499 mg/dL
Blood Pressure	Desired: Systolic BP lower than 120 mm/Hg Diastolic BP lower than 80 mm/Hg Prehypertension: Systolic BP 120 mm/Hg to 139 mm/Hg Diastolic BP 80 mm/Hg to 89 mm/Hg High: Systolic BP 140 mm/Hg or higher Diastolic BP 90 mm/Hg or higher

High cholesterol: Cholesterol is essential to life. Every cell in your body requires cholesterol in its membranes. High Cholesterol is a condition in which excess amounts of cholesterol are found in the blood. This excess can build up and damage your arteries – which can lead to heart attack and stroke.

High blood pressure: Excess pressure weakens blood vessel walls, forcing the heart to pump harder. Over time high blood pressure, higher than 130/80 mmHg- can damage your heart and it’s arteries.

Diabetes: Overall, people with diabetes have greater risk for coronary artery (heart) disease, heart attack and stroke. By managing diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, people with diabetes can reduce their risk.

Manage Stress – take steps to manage and reduce daily stress. Although this is not a major risk factor, researchers have noted a relationship between heart attack and a person’s stress and behavior habits. Managing stress can also help you manage other risk factors.

One step at a time!
Managing these controllable risk factors is critical for the health of your heart. If you have multiple risk factors, although you know it is important, it may also feel overwhelming. The good news – many of the same lifestyle behaviors will provide you benefits across all risk areas. For example, being active lowers LDL (bad cholesterol), raises HDL (good cholesterol), lowers Blood Pressure and can help you manage your weight.