More than 650,000 people in the U.S. will die from heart disease this year. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. One person dies every 36 seconds in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease. These are staggering statistics.
It’s important to think about the risk factors for heart disease, as things you can do something about, we call those modifiable risk factors. We are all born with certain genetics and a certain biology we can’t change. Genetics can affect your risk of having a heart attack or heart disease, unfortunately, you can’t fix your genetics. There are certain risk factors that you have some control over. Things like smoking, being overweight, what you’re eating, your physical activity, your blood pressure, your cholesterol and others. If you have diabetes, a modifiable risk factor is how you’re managing your diabetes. A big one that underlies lots of diseases, including heart disease, is your stress level and what you’re doing to cope.
Some modifiable risk factors can be affected by genetics. A tendency to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or certain types of cholesterol profiles or lipid profiles can be inherited. In addition, the risk of having a sudden heart attack can be inherited.
There’s good news when it comes to heart disease, genetics is not destiny. We’re not completely determined by what we inherit at birth, there is something we can do to improve our health and lower the risk. Choosing a healthier lifestyle can increase our heart health.
One thing we can do is to stop smoking; seek help and if you try to quit and fail, try again. Every time you try to quit your odds of successfully kicking the habit go up. It’s good that you are trying.
Another is figuring out what your blood pressure is which can be done in concert with your care team and answering the question, is my blood pressure too high and not healthy for me? If so, there are things that can be done such as losing weight, exercising more, changing diet, quitting smoking, or using medications.
When addressing cholesterol, we use a variety of measures including High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), Triglycerides, and Total Cholesterol, which all contribute to a person’s risk of developing heart disease. A high HDL is good, a Low LDL is good and low triglycerides as well, when you’re talking about the lipid profiles. At the right age with your primary care team, find out when you should get your lipids checked and what you should do.
Excessive alcohol use has been shown to be a risk factor of heart disease and certain kinds of drugs can cause sudden heart attack by raising blood pressure. If you’re struggling with addictions, looking to get treatment is a powerful step in the healing journey.
There are foods that we know are good for the heart. Eating more fruits and vegetables and fiber, whole wheat or a multigrain bread that has a lower glycemic index (which is when you eat something, it causes your body to release a lot of insulin, because the glucose is high, which can send your blood sugar up and down). This sugar roller coaster is not good for your heart or blood vessels and can cause inflammation. Omega three fatty acids are very healthy for the heart.
The key is identifying small sustainable changes that you can make. It’s about consistency and building that into your daily routine. We’re looking for a lasting effect. Sitting down with your care team, or meeting with a nutritionist, can be really empowering, because it can help figure out what can be done to make changes that will serve you well in the long run.
You should get checked; you need to know. Knowing is a big part of being able to prevent anything or making the changes that need to be made that could impact your life in a positive way.
One Health is a local health provider with multidisciplines.
