Risk Factor Heart Disease – How Healthy is Your Heart?

When we think of a heart attack, we picture an old man, clutching his chest as he staggers. But this is a dangerously misleading view. According to a newspaper article, heart disease is the leading cause of death, deaths in government hospitals showed that about one in six females died of cardiovascular disease as opposed to about one in 48 females who died of breast cancer.

While there are factors like family history and the natural ageing process that put us at risk, there are many things we can do to protect our heart.

Risk Factor 1: Weight Issues.
The Asia Pacific guidelines consider someone with a BMI (body mass index) of over 23 kg / m2 overweight, and over 27.5 kg / m2, obese (the World Health Organisation classifies over 25 kg / m2 as overweight, and over 30 kg / m2 as obese).
Studies in Asia show that morbidity is at much lower BMI values. Asians have a higher body fat percentage than Caucasians with a similar BMI.
Being overweight often makes one susceptible to health problems. Besides the BMI, the size of your waist is also. A bigger waist means excessive body fat around the abdomen and chest which surrounds internal organs, like the heart. For this reason, people with bigger waists have a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. When your waist – to – hip ratio (size of waist divided by side of hips) is more than than 0.85, you’re classified with central obesity which is closely linked to cardiovascular disease, especially in women.

Cut Your Risk: Weight tends to pile on when we eat too much and exercise too little. Instead of jumping on the latest fad diet, learn to make little changes that will improve your health and keep your weight in check in the long run. A dietitian can help you work out a healthy eating plan, by giving you tips on how to improve your diet.
Regular exercise helps women cut their risk of coronary heart disease. Half an hour of physical activity per day is important as it keeps your body weight in control and gives additional heart health benefits. A recent study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine found that women who brisk – walked for at least three hours a week reduced their heart attack risk by as much as 40 per cent; walk for five hours a week and the protective effect hits the 50 per cent mark. You can also up activity levels by cycling, dancing, swimming and having sex.
Incidental exercise is a good way of upping activity levels too, like taking the stairs instead of the lift, getting off the bus a few stops before your destination, taking a brisk walk when you feel the urge to snack, carrying your own groceries, and increasing your pace when doing household chores.

Risk Factor 2: High Blood Pressure.
Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and heart failure, so it’s very crucial to have regular blood pressure (BP) check – ups. While pressure level of 120/80 mmHg to 139/89 mmHg used to be considered within “normal” limits, new US standards classify even this as “prehypertensive”, which is actually a condition that can lead to stroke, heart attack and kidney failure. Those whose BP fall between 130/80 and 139/89 mmHg have increased risk of complications due to hypertension, especially when there are associated risk factors like diabetes, high cholesterol levels or a family history of premature heart disease.

Cut Your Risk: If you fall into this category, you should consider it a serious “wake – up call”. If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, you may be given medication, and told to lose weight, exercise more and cut salt intake. However, one study found that the reduction in hypertension resulting from a low – salt diet was so significant, some patients were able to avoid taking medication. Therefore, learn to season food with herbs and spices, and instead of using salt laden stock cubes, make your own stock. Beware of pre – prepared foods too – always read labels for their fat and salt or sodium content.

Risk Factor 3: Cholesterol Build – Up.
We need cholesterol, a fatty substance found in blood, to function, but when we consume excess cholesterol from saturated fat, it builds up in the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. When the blood can’t pass through, a heart attack or stroke occurs. There’s “bad” cholesterol, called low – density lipoprotein (LDL), which clogs blood vessels, and “good” cholesterol, or high – density lipoprotein (HDL), which protects the heart by unclogging blood vessels. Total cholesterol should be less than 200 mg/dl, LDL should be less than 100mg/dl, and HDL should be above 40mg/dl.
HDL cholesterol is closely and inversely linked with heart disease. This is especially so in the case of people who have metabolic syodrome. Also called Syndrome X, people with this have a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and although it’s not clear how it is brought on, studies show it’s linked with insulin resistance. The same factors that cause insulin resistance also raise blood pressure and increase the body’s levels of harmful LDL cholesterol as well as other blood fat.
The problem faced by people who suffer from Syndrome X is that they may feel fine as their total cholesterol levels appear normal, but their LDL is high while HDL is low.

Cut Your Risk: Reducing your weight and exercising more will help you cut bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol. Reducing bad cholesterol by 15 per cent cuts your risk of heart attack or stroke by 15 per cent; and raising good cholesterol by 8 per cent cuts the risk by 20 to 25 per cent. Reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet by eating less fatty meat, deep – fried food, cakes, biscuits, burger, chips and full – fat dairy products. Imagine your arteries as a pipe in your kitchen sink. While saturated fats (the ones that are solid at room temperature) clog your pipes, healthy fats like olive and canola oils flow right along, and complex, fibre – rich carbohydrates sail through too, and even help reverse some clogging that’s already built up. So, it helps to consume more vegetables, fruit and wholegrains. Fibre is so good for your heart that recent studies have shown that boosting your intake by just 10g a day (think two slices of wholewheat bread and an apple) cuts the risk of a heart attack by 14 per cent.

Risk Factor 4: Diabetes.
Diabetes is a big risk factor for women. With diabetes, a woman loses all her premenopausal protection from heart disease and so, her risk of developing heart disease is five to six times higher compared to a non – diabetic. This risk is even worse for men and is equivalent to that of a person who has had a previous heart attack. Doctors also acknowledge that metabolic syndrome is a vital early sign that you’re high risk of developing diabetes; and having Type 2 diabetes puts you at the same risk as someone who’s already had a heart attack.

Cut Your Risk: Type 2 diabetes is primarily a lifestyle disease with prevent – able risk factors. A new study shows that obese people are up to 80 times more likely to develop the disease than those who maintain a healthy weight. To help turn things around, try to reach your ideal weight by eating healthy and increasing physical activity. Get your blood pressure and cholesterol level under control and have your blood glucose levels monitored by your doctor.

Risk Factor 5: Stress & Depression.
If your stress isn’t productive, or if you’re prone to depression and anxiety, research shows you’re at increased risk of heart disease. Unhealthy responses to stress such as overeating, smoking and substance abuse can also add to your risk. Stress can lead to high blood pressure, lack of exercise, overeating and smoking, and these can lead to heart disease. A Japanese study found that highly – stressed women had double the risk of heart disease and stroke than women with less stress. Being depressed and lonely may also predispose one to heart problems.

Cut Your Risk: Find positive ways to reduce stress in your life. Tackle tasks one at a time. Multi – tasking may seem like a necessity these day, but studies show it can put more strain on your brain leading to elevated stress which raises chemicalls like adrenaline in the  blood that increase blood pressure and heart rate, and these can chip away at heart over time. So, learn to delegate and say “no”.
Find simple ways to de – stress, such as taking a walk or meditating, and doing gentle exercise like yoga and tai chi. Spending time with friend can also be therapeutic, research suggests women who have a strong network of friends have less hypertension and are less likely to die of a heart attack, as they probably have an outlet to vent anxieties.