Queen's Heart - Heart Disease Risk Factors

Your heart is a special organ and one that should be taken care of properly. Knowing the Risk Factors that put you at a higher risk for heart disease is the first step, the second is making changes to your lifestyle to reduce the danger of these risk factors.

• Changes due to aging
• Differences in Gender
(females are less at risk than males)
• Family history, what's in our genetic make up

But there are risk factors we CAN change and help reduce the impact of the ones we can't:

Smoking is the cause of many diseases. Not only does smoking damage the lungs, it also damages blood vessels and causes increase plaque (the sticky stuff that blocks arteries) development as well as making the blood more sticky. Sticky blood tends to get stuck in the blocked areas of your arteries and reduces blood flow to the working heart muscle.

Quitting smoking is one of the most important lifestyle changes you can make on the road to your recovery following a heart attack or open heart surgery.

1. Make a list of triggers that cause you to smoke and deal with them in a positive manner.

2. Ask your physician for a referral to a quit smoking program. Many times these programs are free or of little cost. Ask your nurse at Queen's about the Quit Smoking Program.

3. Do not put yourself in situations where you may want to smoke or where people are smoking.

4. Don't quit trying to become smoke free, if you don't succeed the first time keep trying.

High cholesterol may be due to a family history or a poor diet high in fat and cholesterol or both. Making healthy food choices and adding an exercise program of walking can help to lower this risk factor as well as taking medicine prescribed by your doctor. Cholesterol is important in our bodies for maintaining structure of cells and creating hormones. When we have too much though that is when there is a risk for heart disease. Here are some important numbers that you should know:

1. Daily exercise program of walking for 25-30 minutes per day will help lower cholesterol.

2. Eat a diet low in animal and saturated fats and high in vegetables and fiber. Look for whole grain products when buying breads, it should be the first ingredient on the label.

3. Maintain a healthy body weight with a combination of daily exercise and a health diet.

4. Take your cholesterol medicines as directed by your Doctor, let your Doctor know if you are having problems with these medicines.

Obesity, or being over weight, puts increased stress on every organ of your body. Fat is not an active tissue and causes your muscles to work harder to move your body around, this includes your heart. Being obese increases your risk for not only heart disease, but also for stroke, diabetes, kidney disease as well as other medical conditions.

Because your heart is working harder there is also an increase in your blood pressure. Many times, just by losing extra body weight your blood pressure will return to lower values.

1. Work with your Doctor to develop a safe, fun exercise program. Walking is always a great way to start.

2. Understand what may trigger you to eat. For example, stress, boredom, etc. Take steps to make changes to these habits.

3. Eat a healthy well balanced diet of low fat foods. Avoid processed foods. Choose healthy snacks such as fruit and veggies.

4. Work with a Dietician to help with meal planning.

Diabetes is a disease of the endocrine system. There are two forms of diabetes. Type I, or insulin dependent diabetes and Type II, also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes. For Type I Diabetes your body does not make insulin and this usually comes on during teenage years. For Type II Diabetes your body does not allow insulin to be used properly by the cells in your body. In either case the result is a higher than normal amount of glucose, or blood sugar, in the blood.

Uncontrolled Diabetes of any type is extremely dangerous to your health and can cause one or more of the following:

• Slows wound healing
• Nerve damage
• Blindness
• Heart disease
• Blood vessel damage
• Irreversible kidney damage
• Amputations
• Stroke

1. Check your blood sugar on a regular basis, write down the results in a notebook. You should have a Fasting Blood Sugar between 90-126, and your Hemoglobin A1C should be less than 6.5%.

2. Take your medication as directed by your doctor.

3. Eat a healthy well balanced diet. You can get help by seeing a dietician.

4. Exercise regularly, this will help your medicine work better.

The human body needs a certain amount of good stress in order for it to grow strong and remain healthy. Negative stress, such as depression, anxiety, anger, and being impatient typically contribute to negative behaviors which can contribute to developing heart disease. Some of these negative behaviors are: smoking, over eating, physical inactivity, and abusing alcohol or drugs.

Stress alone is enough to cause changes to your heart, when combined with the previously mentioned negative behaviors your heart is definitely at risk.

The physical dangers of stress include increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.

1. Take a workshop in stress management or meditation.

2. Do things that are calming: listen to music, take a walk, draw a picture.

3. Surround yourself with positive people to maintain a sense of well being.

4. Stay active, research has shown that active people are less stressed.

5. Use a nicotine patch if you smoke.

6. Get at least 6-8hours of sleep to insure proper rest.

High Blood Pressure can be caused by one or more factors. Regardless of the cause, it's important to work with your health care team as well as make lifestyle changes. High Blood Pressure can lead to serious problems with your heart as well as a stroke or death. You should take your blood pressure through out the day to determine if you medicines are working properly. Write these numbers down and bring them to your appointments with the Doctor.

A health target Blood Pressure is 120/80. The top number is the pressure when your heart squeezes and the bottom is the pressure when it is relaxing between beats. High numbers mean high pressures that can eventually damage your heart.

1. Take the medicines your Doctor prescribes as directed. It is important not to skip doses or double dose on this medicine.

2. Quit smoking. Smoking causes your blood vessels to constrict and your heart to beat faster making it work harder.

3. Stress Management is important to help control your blood pressure. Stress also makes blood vessels constrict and your heart beat faster causing it to work harder. This is not good if you are unable to reduce the stress you are feeling.

4. Daily exercise helps lower blood pressure as your body rewards by allowing your heart to beat slower and your blood vessels to relax and open up after exercising. This helps to reduce the work your heart has to do. Exercise also makes your heart stronger which allows it to pump blood with less work.

5. Eat a low sodium diet. Avoid shoyu, patis, garlic salt, MSG, Hawaiian salt, miso, bagoong, and processed canned foods (such as Spam).

The human body functions better when it is moved. Being in-active and sedentary causes your body to break down and not work efficiently. Movement helps to lubricate joints, bring fresh blood and nutrients to cells, keep muscle strong, and helps improve how you are feeling mentally.

Being active is easy and doesn't mean it has to hurt. Simply walking a total of 25 to 45 minutes per day can bring about positive changes.

1. Start taking short walks through out the day, increase the time as you feel more comfortable.

2. Find an activity you enjoy and is fun, one that you'll stick with over time.

3. Find an exercise partner, someone you like to spend time with.

4. Park your car further away from your destination.

5. Buy a new pair of sneakers, walking shoes, bathing suit.