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5 Things You Must Know About Heart Disease

1. The simplest of the things but the hardest to believe is your Age itself. Young age simply doesn't mean that your heart is healthy. One is never to young to think about heart diseases. We are finding ourselves in an age where more and more young individuals are affected by heart diseases and the reason is mainly the lifestyle we chose for ourselves.

2. Contrary to what most of us think, arteries don't tend to take many years to come to a stage where they are blocked just sufficiently to cause a heart attack. But rather it is mostly seen that after the artery is blocked by about 50%, the progression is rather fast and some individuals suffer a heart attack son after that. Therefore strictly controlling the risk factors that cause a heart attack such as diabetes, high blood pressure , inactivity and most importantly smoking will reduce the risk by a significant amount.

3. Heart disease does not only mean 'the disease of heart'. Heart pumps blood to all of our organs through a vast network of veins and arteries (also called blood vessels). Any blockage at any point throughout this system greatly elevates the chances of a stroke due to insufficient blood supply and also increases the stress on heart as the pumping becomes difficult through narrow part of a blood vessel. People who have had a stroke are always at a much higher risk of suffering a heart attack and exactly opposite is also true. A very special and systematic approach is required to assess the risk at an early stage and diagnosis be made.

4. In addition to the blockage of arteries , heart may become weak and inefficient due to weakening of heart valves. These valves automatically open and shut so as to maintain a uni-directional flow of blood through heart. But, when the valves become weak, they allow for reverse flow of blood partially and makes the whole pumping system inefficient thus leaving the body devoid of vital energy we require to perform our day-today tasks. This greatly weakens the heart muscles and renders the body weak and with low energy levels throughout the day. Heart attack happens when the heart muscles become so weak that the heart itself is too weak to perform its main function- pumping blood.

5. Heart disease is NOT as serious as it used to be some years ago. Cardiology has come a long way in recent few years and people with heart problems can live a healthy and normal life if proper care is taken and the risk factors eliminated and living a lifestyle which puts the least amount of pressure on the heart. Heart disease is no more treated as a part of growing age. Eating right food and moderately exercising significantly reduces the chance of heart diseases . One must cut down on fats , high carbohydrates and exercise regularly in order to maintain a healthy heart. In a world where teen smoking is on constant rise in spite of the governments trying everything to deter, we are making ourselves more and more exposed to the risk of heart diseases.