Heart disease or coronary heart sickness is one of the common causes of death in Malaysia. Heart disease or known as a heart attack or coronary heart disease is a condition where the blood vessels supplying your heart are blocked. The blood vessels supplying your heart are small, hence small block may cause serious problems and lead to death. Ask questions to the doctor about coronary heart sickness or other diseases for better understanding.
A high level of cholesterol in your blood will result in fat plaque formation within the blood vessels of the heart. This plaque will cause a partial blockage. Later, the plaque will burst and the body will wrongly interpret that as internal bleeding and will start forming large plaque. A bigger plaque will cause complete blockage and the heart will slowly die and fails.
One disease usually has a list of risk factors. The more risk factors, the higher the percentage of a person to suffer from certain illnesses. There are two types of risk factors which are modifiable risk factors and non-modifiable risk factors. Modifiable risk factors are something you can intervene and alter for betterment, while non-modifiable risk factors are factors you can’t do anything to change them.
The threat factors for heart disease are:
- Obesity or overweight
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Male
- Family history
- High-fat diet
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Stressful life
- Unbalanced diet
- Smoking
Males are at higher risk to suffer coronary heart sickness compared to females because of hormonal factors. Higher estrogen in women has a protective effect. However, after menopause, the risk to develop coronary heart disease is equal in both genders.
Coronary heart disease is also a long term complication of diabetes. Poor blood sugar control among diabetic patients will induce fat deposition within arteries. This includes the coronary arteries that supply the heart.
Smoking is one of the threat factors because this bad habit will cause the blood of a smoker to become thicker. The blood becomes thicker as the red blood cells of a smoker are beyond the normal range to help to supply body cells with adequate oxygen. Oxygen intake is lower during smoking while carbon monoxide production within the smoker’s body is super high. This triggers more production of red blood cells to wash out the carbon monoxide and to bring in more oxygen. Thick blood will cause blockage and heart attack is one of the complications.
If you manage to modify the threat factors, the probability for you to suffer from heart disease will be lesser. The followings are the ways to reduce the risk of heart disease:
1- Regular exercise
Exercise regularly at least 3 times a week. A session should last for at least 30 minutes. You can do moderate-intensity type of exercises like cycling, jogging, and swimming. Exercise will help you lose weight, help in preventing hypertension, help in preventing diabetes, and reduce your stress level. Exercise helps in preventing heart disease.
2- Low salt and sugar diet
Less salt and sugar will prevent you from getting diabetes and hypertension, thus, keep you away from or heart disease.
3- Healthy and balanced diet
Consume a fresh, healthy, and balanced diet. Eat fewer carbohydrates, a reasonable amount of protein and more vegetables, and fruits. Low-fat meals are a must!
4- Stop smoking
Smoking turns your blood thicker and you are at a higher risk to suffer from heart disease. Doctors can help you by giving up cigarettes.
Ask questions to the doctor about coronary heart sickness or other diseases for better understanding. Better knowledge about your health will help to prevent many diseases.
