Tag: heart disease

Tips to Control High Blood Pressure

tsc-high-blood-pressure-mdnHigh Blood Pressure Risk Factors

It is important to keep your blood pressure under 140/90 mm Hg. Blood pressure higher than that is considered dangerous. Below is a list of high blood pressure risk factors. People with any of these risk factors should have their blood pressure checked every time they visit their doctor. For those who fall into several risk categories, experts recommend purchasing a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope and taking your own pressure reading every week.

  • Cigarette smoking or being exposed to secondhand smoke on a daily basis
  • Diabetes (a fasting glucose higher than 125 mg/dL)
  • Kidney disease
  • Family history of hypertension
  • Being obese or overweight
  • Leading a physically inactive, sedentary lifestyle
  • Men over the age of 45
  • Women over the age of 55
  • Taking oral contraceptives
  • Elevated cholesterol levels
  • Frequently consuming alcoholic beverages
  • Being African American

via Tips to Control High Blood Pressure.

America’s High Blood Pressure Burden

High-Blood-pressureHigh Blood Pressure is often referred  to as “The Silent Killer”. Here are the facts:

  • About 1 in 3 U.S. adults—an estimated 68 million people—has high blood pressure.
  • 69% of people who have a first heart attack, 77% of people who have a first stroke, and 74% of people with chronic heart failure have high blood pressure.
  • High blood pressure is also a major risk factor for kidney disease.
  • High blood pressure was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death for about 348,000 Americans in 2008.
  • Costs directly attributable to high blood pressure for the nation total almost $131 billion annually in direct medical expenses and $25 billion in lost productivity.
  • Less than half (46%) of people with high blood pressure have their condition under control.
  • Almost 30% of American adults have prehypertension—blood pressure numbers that are higher than normal, but not yet in the high blood pressure range. Prehypertension raises your risk of developing high blood pressure.
  • Reducing average population sodium intake from 3,300 mg to 2,300 mg per day may reduce cases of high blood pressure by 11 million and save 18 billion health care dollars annually.

via CDC – DHDSP – High Blood Pressure Facts.

How To Prevent and Control Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors

You can prevent and control many coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors with lifestyle changes and medicines. Examples of these controllable risk factors include high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and overweight and obesity. Only a few risk factors—such as age, gender, and family history—can’t be controlled.

To reduce your risk of CHD and heart attack, try to control each risk factor you can. The good news is that many lifestyle changes help control several CHD risk factors at the same time. For example, physical activity may lower your blood pressure, help control diabetes and prediabetes, reduce stress, and help control your weight.

via How To Prevent and Control Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors – NHLBI, NIH.

What Is a Heart Attack?

Every year, more than 1 million Americans have a heart attack – a sudden interruption in the heart’s blood supply. This happens when there is a blockage in the coronary arteries, the vessels that carry blood to the heart muscle. When blood flow is blocked, heart muscle can be damaged very quickly and die. Prompt emergency treatments have reduced the number of deaths from heart attacks in recent years.

via Heart Disease Pictures Slideshow: A Visual Guide to Heart Disease on MedicineNet.com.

Famous Tobacco Victims – John Candy

Actor John Candy struggled with his weight and tobacco habit for most of his adult life. At 6 feet, 2 inches and approximately 300 pounds, cigarette smoking put additional stress on his heart.

In an effort to improve his health, Candy quit smoking a few months before his death. But it was not enough to prevent the heart attack that took him in his sleep after midnight on March 4, 1994. He was just 43 years old.

via Famous Tobacco Victims – John Candy.

Heart Disease Risk Factors You Can Control

High cholesterol and high blood pressure are major risk factors for heart disease. Being overweight, obese, or physically inactive all increase your risk. So does diabetes, especially if your glucose levels are not well controlled. Discuss your risks with your doctor and develop a strategy for managing them. There are many steps you can take to protect your heart.

via Heart Disease Pictures Slideshow: A Visual Guide to Heart Disease on MedicineNet.com.

Heart Attack Symptoms and Early Warning Signs

Knowing the early warning signs of heart attack is critical for prompt recognition and treatment. Many heart attacks start slowly, unlike the dramatic portrayal often seen in the movies. A person experiencing a heart attack may not even be sure of what is happening. Heart attack symptoms vary among individuals, and even a person who has had a previous heart attack may have different symptoms in a subsequent heart attack. Although chest pain or pressure is the most common symptom of a heart attack, heart attack victims may experience a diversity of symptoms that include:

  • pain, fullness, and/or squeezing sensation of the chest;
  • jaw pain, toothache, headache;
  • shortness of breath;
  • nausea, vomiting, and/or general epigastric (upper middle abdomen) discomfort;
  • sweating;
  • heartburn and/or indigestion;
  • arm pain (more commonly the left arm, but may be either arm);
  • upper back pain;
  • general malaise (vague feeling of illness); and
  • no symptoms (approximately one quarter of all heart attacks are silent, without chest pain or new symptoms and silent heart attacks are especially common among patients with diabetes mellitus).

via Heart Attack Symptoms and Early Warning Signs – MedicineNet.

Too Much Sodium Is Bad For Your Health

Most Americans Should Consume Less Sodium (1,500 mg/day or less). Most of the sodium we consume is in the form of salt, and the vast majority of sodium we consume is in processed and restaurant foods. Too much sodium is bad for your health. It can increase your blood pressure and your risk for a heart attack and stroke. Heart disease and stroke are the first and third killers of men and women in the United States each year.

via CDC – DHDSP – High Blood Pressure and Sodium.