Haunted by the Fact That Heart Attacks Are Frequent in Family

Haunted by the Fact That Heart Attacks Are Frequent in Family

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION: I am haunted by the fact that heart attacks are frequent in my
family. My father passed away at the age of 52 as the result of a heart
attack, and now my older brother has had his first one. Isn't there anything
I can do to prevent it in my case?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANSWER: Very possibly. Many doctors believe a person can lower his/her risks
of such attacks by following good health rules. There are some things that
cause heart attacks--risk factors--you cannot change: age, sex, race, and a
family history of heart disease. Nevertheless, there are causes that depend
entirely upon you, and those are the ones you will want to work on as they can
really make a difference.
In the past 20 years, certain types of heart conditions and deaths from
them have decreased in this country. That is due to many things, including:
improved diagnostic methods, medications, bypass surgery, and better
understanding of what role some risk factors such as age, sex, smoking, high
blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, obesity, diabetes, nonexercise, and
other things, actually play in heart attacks.
About 85 percent of all heart disease cases in the United States may be
attributed to modifiable factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol levels, alcohol, salt, oral contraceptives, and obesity.
So stop smoking--and being around those who do--as much as possible.
Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of heart diseases and
deaths from them in the United States. If you have tried "everything" to quit
smoking but have not been able to do so, talk with your physician.
Seriously curtailing excessive alcohol use and eliminating as much salt,
sugar and animal fats as possible from your diet also can help decrease
chances for an attack by lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol.
Increasing consumption of fish--some say as many as three meals of fish
per week are needed--may prove beneficial in lowering cholesterol levels.
Also, if you are sedentary, slowly but steadily increasing exercise that
you do on a regular basis (try three times each week) can be helpful.
Obesity raises blood pressure--weight loss helps reverse it. Also,
obesity goes hand in hand with increased cholesterol levels and possibly other
heart-damaging conditions.
If you are obese, you must lose weight to be healthy. Weight loss will
be easier for you if you increase your exercise at the same time, and stay
with the exercise after you have become thin to help you keep the fat off and
maintain your health.
Additionally, many believe that taking one aspirin daily can help prevent
heart attacks in some people suffering from hardening of the arteries who have
several known heart attack risk factors.
So you see, it may not be the easiest thing to do, but by applying all of
the tips I have given you here (or at least some of them) you can actively
wage war on the disease you fear, and increase your odds to the point where
you may never suffer from it.