Overview
In 2010, an estimated 785,000 Americans had a new coronary attack, and about 470,000 had a recurrent attack. About every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event, and about one every minute will die from one (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In essence, heart disease touches all of our lives in some way, from losing loved ones… to being affected ourselves.

Hope Through Prevention
These are scary statistics; however, each of us can lower our risk of heart disease through preventative measures. The American Heart Association (AHA) has come out with a new program to help citizens make heart care a priority. “Life’s Simple 7” provides a blueprint for healthy heart living.

The AHA strongly suggests that people take the following steps:

1. Get Active.
2. Control Cholesterol.
3. Eat Better.
4. Manage Blood Pressure.
5. Lose Weight.
6. Reduce Blood Sugar.
7. Stop Smoking.

It is worth a visit to the AHA website to learn more about how to implement these simple seven steps into your life. Also, an interactive tool on the site can assess where you already stand concerning these important factors.

Women Need More Education
For years, the general public thought that only men suffered from heart disease. Not true. Women are at risk as well. Many national campaigns promote the issue for women, but “The Heart Truth” from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is one of the best known.

A little red dress symbolizes the movement. Introduced in 2002, the dress reminds and inspires women to protect themselves. The NHLBI states, “The campaign’s goal is to give women a personal and urgent wakeup call about their risk of heart disease.” A sobering statistic from the organization supports the effort. Amazing as it may seem, one in four women in the United States dies from heart disease! Compare that to breast cancer deaths in women – one in 30.

Much like the AHA, the NHLBI offers ways to prevent this terrible disease. By doing just four things—eating right, being physically active, not smoking, and keeping a healthy weight, a woman can reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 82 percent.

“The Heart Truth” website provides plenty of additional information. Check it out here. You’ll find enlightening facts such as that, “the most common cause of heart disease is narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart itself.”

Visit Your Medical Provider Regularly
Common sense also tells us that in order to love our hearts, we must visit a health care provider. Health screenings such as blood pressure and cholesterol checks need to be completed on a regular basis. Doctors/nurses can also give useful advice on losing weight and quitting smoking. Loving your heart means finding a health care provider you want to visit annually.

Three Ways to Show Your Heart “Love” Today

1. Eat a piece of fresh fruit.
2. Increase your activity level – take the stairs, park farther from the entrance at work or at a store.
3. Stop smoking – if you don’t smoke, stay away from second-hand smoke.

A Love Letter to Your Heart
Long associated with love, hearts need special care too. This February, make a vow to learn more about heart disease and how you can prevent it. By changing a few things about you and how you live your life, you can improve your chances of being around a long time for the ones you love.

The Scottish Health Study, released in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, reports on the dangers of watching television.  According to the study, spending two or more hours of leisure time in front of a television (or other screen) on a daily basis is harmful to your health.  How harmful?  It doubles your risk of heart disease.

How can you improve your health and quality of life?  A few simple changes may help:

• Reduce the number of television shows you watch.  One hour a day is fine for relaxing.
• Find new hobbies.  While you may be tired at the end of the day, there are plenty of activities that can be done that require limited physical exertion.  Some ideas include reading, knitting, and solving crossword puzzles.
• Prepare for tomorrow.  Want 15 minutes more sleep in the morning?  Instead of watching tv, prep your coffee pot, make lunches, lay out items needed for breakfast, pick out tomorrow’s outfit.
• Talk with your child, your spouse, or a long-distance friend.  Whether it is in person or on the phone, take that time to reconnect.
• Take a walk after dinner.  If weather and street conditions allow, take a short walk.  A little exercise can be invigorating.  Plus, it’s an activity that can involve all household members.

Don’t jeopardize your health by being a couch potato.

Similarly, it seems that fat in foods also received a bum rap. The body actually needs a certain amount of fat to properly maintain healthy skin and body cell production. The trick is consuming the right types of fats. Generally speaking, there are four basic kinds of food fat: trans, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Saturated fats and trans-fatty acids are the ones you want to reduce. These are the fats that can increase “bad” cholesterol and lead to greater risk of heart disease.

The “un” fats – monounsaturated and polyunsaturated –are the ones that have been shown to help increase levels of “good” cholesterol, lowering coronary risk. Monounsaturated fats are touted as the most beneficial of all the fats, even thought to help protect against some types of cancer. Certain polyunsaturated fats contain omega-3 fatty acids, which may lower blood pressure and help prevent coronary heart disease.

Some healthy-fat foods containing monounsaturated fats are olive and peanut oils, nuts and avocados. And good news for chocolate lovers: chocolate with 65% or more cocoa contains antioxidants that help lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Additionally, dark chocolate contains the natural anti-depressant serotonin and helps increase production of the feel-good brain chemicals, endorphins.

Beneficial polyunsaturated fats include salmon and mackerel, flax seed and walnuts. These all contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Without healthy levels of these omega-3 fatty acids, your risk for heart disease could triple.

In a recent study that included 146 obese adults with the average age of 52, it was found that a low-carb diet was more effective in lowering hypertension than the drug Orlistat. The 146 participants of the study were divided into two groups, one group was given a low-carb diet, the other group was given a low-fat diet and Orlistat. The participants in the low-carb diet were restricted to a carbohydrate intake of less than 20 grams per day. Those on Orlistat were given less than 30 percent of their calories from fat. After 48 weeks the participants in both groups experienced the same amount of weight loss, but those who had the low-carb diet were able to reduce or totally eliminate their blood pressure medication during the course of the study.

The study’s lead researcher, Dr. William S. Yancy, Jr., an associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center, said that they “expected the weight loss to be considerable with both therapies”, but they “were surprised to see blood pressure improve so much more with the low-carbohydrate diet than with Orlistat”. One of the effects of weight loss is lower blood pressure, but low-carb diets may have an additional blood pressure-lowering effect.

We all know that people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to become fat and susceptible heart attack, but that is just one part of it, there is more to prolonged sitting than just becoming fat. Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences says that “after four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals and the genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down.” A study in Canada that was published last year revealed that people who spend most of their time siting have a higher death risk whether or not they exercised regularly.

Now that we know that sitting too much could be deadly, what can we do to counteract it? Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge has this advice: “We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad, but it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behavior, the better.” Ekblom-Bak has similar advice; she says, “People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits, but when they’re in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible, don’t just send your colleague an e-mail. Walk over and talk to him. Standing up.”

What is in sex then that makes it good for your health? Here are some of the known health benefits that sexual activity can bring you:

You will live longer if you make love more often. A study done in Britain showed that men who had sex at least two times a week lived longer than men who had sex less than once a month. A similar study also was conducted in the US, and it showed the same results–men who have sex more often live longer. The British study also revealed that men who have sex more often have healthier hearts and are less likely to have heart attacks. Another study, which was published in the Biological Psychology journal, reveals frequent sexual activity lowers diastolic blood pressure.

A French study also showed that women who do not have sexual intercourse often are more likely to have breast cancer than those who do regularly. In men, frequent sexual activity was found to be a good way to prevent prostate cancer, this was found out in a study conducted in Minnesota.

Every time you have sex, you burn around 50 calories. Imagine how much calories you’d be burning if you have sex at least three times a week. This is probably why those who have frequent sexual intercourse tend to be sexier than those who do less often.

If you want to live longer, start making love to your partner more often, it will bring the two of you a lot of benefits.

While studying the benefits of laughter, it came into Miller’s mind that probably music has the same effect on the blood vessels as laughter. He studied the effects of music on the cardiovascular system and found out that  music may be one of the best de-stressors — either by playing or even listening to music. But not all kinds of music can act as a de-stressor because when a person is forced to listen to music he does not like, his blood vessels close up.

Using high-tech  imaging, Dr. Miller was able to measure blood vessel size as people listened to music. He learned that when a person listens to the kind of music that she likes, her blood vessels open up. When forced to listen to music she doesn’t like, the blood vessel were observed to shrink.

“The inner lining of the blood vessel relaxed, opened up and produced chemicals that are protective to the heart,” stated Dr. Miller, as he explained the effects of music on the blood vessel.

Stress can contribute to the damage on the cardivascular system, so it is important to have a de-stressor. Music is always there, ready for you to enjoy and fight stress with. It is good to have music that you like play in the background as much as possible to help you fight stress.

Get moving. Be active, take at least 30 to 45 minutes of your time each day to move your body. A sedentary lifestyle can contribute much to the risk of acquiring heart disease.  A few minutes of brisk walk every morning will help a lot. If you can, go to the gym two or three times a week. An alternative to the gym is yoga or tai chi. If you have been inactive for quite some time, get some advice from your doctor about going to the gym.

If you are a smoker, now’s the best time to stop your bad habit. Yes, it is not that easy to kick the habit but with the help of you doctor, you can choose the best method of quitting. If you are a non-smoker, avoid passive smoking.

Your diet must be low in sodium; avoid salty foods. Foods that are full of saturated fats will increase your cholesterol level greatly (and we all know that this is not good for the heart), so avoid them. The best foods to have are grains, vegetables, fruits, and fish. If you can not help but have some meat, then make sure that it is lean meat.  If you are overweight, try to lose some of those fats by becoming active; obesity may be controlled with exercise and self-discipline.

Diabetes is linked to heart disease, so you must keep your blood sugar at a normal level. But it is not only your blood sugar level that you should watch out for, you also need to maintain your blood cholesterol and blood pressure at the normal. Again, a healthy diet is the key to this factor.

Heart disease can be avoided the natural way, and you have all the chances in the world to avoid it.

What is Unsaturated Fat?

In order to understand how omega-3 works, it is first important to determine what it really is. Fish contain unsaturated fat. But the main nutrient that can improve the heart is the omega-3 fatty acid. It is the type of unsaturated fat that reduces overall inflammation in the body.

Some also believe that omega-3 can lower blood pressure, decrease blood clotting, improve a child’s learning ability, and enhance the immune function among others. By consuming two servings of fish a week, a person reduces his risk of cardiac death.

What Types of Fish Should be Eaten?

Salmon, herring, and tuna are fish rich in omega-3 fatty acid. Thus, people who eat these types of fish will benefit the most. It is important to take note, though, that various types of seafood also contain small amounts of this nutrient. Generally, freshwater fish have less omega-3 acid compared to fish from the sea.

However, while most types of fish are beneficial, it is also important to take note that certain fish, such as catfish and tilapia, contain high levels of arachidonic acid, which is also found in egg yolk and red meat. While it is not harmful in itself, eating high levels of arachidonic acid can increase a person’s risk of heart disease because it causes inflammation.

Unlike most exercise programs that take a lot of time to follow, walking easily could fit into your everyday schedule. If you ride a bus to work every morning, you can get off the bus a few blocks away from the stop
and walk the rest of the way to the office. If you drive to the office, you can park you car several blocks away. If you are not used to walking, you can start with short daily walks that take just a few minutes. You can increase the length of time you spend in walking gradually. Taking a few thousand steps a day will make you more fit and reduce your risk of chronic illnesses. Experts say that the ideal number of steps to make every day is between 5,000 and 10,000. If you are not used to the idea of walking to work, this could sound too much at first glance.

If you want to start a healthier lifestyle, you can start it with a walk to work.

• Wash your hands. You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again. The single most effective way to prevent the spread of germs is to wash your hands. Antibacterial soap isn’t necessary; it’s the mechanical action of the scrubbing along with the surfactants in soap that rinse the germs down the drain.

• Sanitize. Most back to school supply lists now require hand sanitizer for classroom use. Small bottles on key chains or clips are a great idea for attaching to backpacks and lunchboxes, as well. Get everyone in the habit of rubbing some on before they eat, and when they get on and off the school bus.

• Cover Your Mouth. Coughing and sneezing spray millions of viruses and bacteria into the air, and anyone nearby will be inhaling germ soup. Love thy neighbor, and keep the snot to yourself.

• But Not With Your Hands. Teach your children not to cough on their hands, and you will drastically minimize the germ spreading in your home. They can cough into their elbows or inner arms, in order to cover their mouths.

• Go herbal. There is evidence that herbs such as Echinacea can enhance immune system response, if taken for short periods. Garlic is also reported to prevent illness, and Vitamin C and zinc are well known helps for shortening sickness.

• Get to the pharmacy. Nowadays, there are many over the counter preventatives and cures. Airborne isn’t just for plane trips and can keep you well when everyone else is sick; you might check out the stock of cough drops while you’re at it!

Canada is the country where an ancient blue-flowering crop is exclusively cultivated. The flax plant produces a fiber. From this fiber linen is woven. There is an edible seed and from this seed flax oil can be extracted. This seed contains heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids. The flax seed has alpha-linolenic acid which is not exactly the same as the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. The body however can convert alpha-linolenic acid from flaxseed oil to the same type of omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil.

The flax plant contains mucilage gum which is a soluble fiber. It is similar to the fiber that is in oat bran. This mucilage gum is what lowers blood levels of cholesterol. Many research studies have indicated a reduction in the bad cholesterol called LDL. Triglyceride levels were also lowered. Decreasing these two lipid has a connection to lessen the risk of cardiovascular disease. Platelets may also become less sticky which would reduce the risk of a heart attack.

In the flax plant is a chemical called lignans. This is a plant estrogen that is believed to limit the bodies production of estrogen and testosterone. It has been shown that in some cases estrogen and testosterone can stimulate the growth of certain cancers such as cancer of the prostate and breast cancer. Before using flax oil or flax seed, breast cancer patients who are taking the drug tamoxifen should consult their physician.

Of course, it is prudent to ask your doctor about any supplement you plan on taking to discover if you have any health issues that would effect that choice. It has been found in animal studies that when flaxseed was given to pregnant rats the birth weight of their male babies was lowered.

It has been believed that the human heart is unable to repair itself after a heart attack or injury, causing one to need life cover. New research refutes that belief. Because stem cells can be rejected as a foreign body by ones immune system, stem cells were taken from the bone marrow of a mouse to be implanted in the heart of the same mouse. A heart attack was induced to the mouse and the stem cells were introduced directly in the heart.

There was significant improvement in heart functioning. This successful experiment is a precursor to trials of human subjects which are planned to begin within a year.

A company called Advanced Cell Technology that is based in Worcester Mass has taken stem cells and turned them into beating heart cells. . They are also trying to create transplantable patches for repairing large areas of heart damage.

Advanced Cell Technology has as its focus to produce young cells for the treatment of cell degenerative diseases. They use nuclear transfer (cloning) technology to produce healthy cells or tissue of any type with an identical match to the patient’s own DNA. A patient’s immune system would reject cells if they were not developed in this way. Their technology with stem cells regenerates the cell life span, which thereby makes “young” cells available for aging patients.

Obesity is a major risk factor in heart disease. Women especially who have a lot of fat around the waist are more at risk than those who carry the fat on the hips. About 1/3 of the women in the US are considered obese, and use of a fat binder would help with that.  Also, beneficial to overweight women would be diet pills.

Physical inactivity is a significant risk factor for heart disease. Studies have shown that regular exercise (such as using multi gyms) reduces cholesterol levels, lowers blood pressure, reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes and increases arterial health. As little as 30 minutes per day of exercise, 3 times per week has proven to be beneficial.

Cholesterol levels are also important predictors of cardiovascular disease or health. Cholesterol levels can be improved by diet, exercise and cholesterol-lowering medications.

High blood pressure makes the heart work harder, increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney disease. It speeds up hardening of the arteries. Blood pressure can be controlled with diet, exercise, vitamin supplements and medicines.

The lower inflammation levels accomplished by statins may be one of the most important reasons since inflammation in the body is a precursor to cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and a host of other diseases where inflammation plays a role.

A 45% lower risk of colon cancer was found in a study presented in June 2004 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

LDL levels were reduced by 20 points below the 100mg/d level recommended by the American Heart Association in a Cleveland Clinic Study in 2004.

In June of 2004, the American Diabetes Associate advised that the 16 million diabetics over 40 should consider statins even if they have normal cholesterol.

The various studies in the year have made this a drug of preference for patients. Persuasive evidence is now in after a full year of study in 2004 that statins are safer, more effective, and have more clinical applications than even aspirin.

The lower inflammation levels accomplished by statins may be one of the most important reasons since inflammation in the body is a precursor to cancer, HIV (for which you should get an HIV test), multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and a host of other diseases where inflammation plays a role.

A 45% lower risk of colon cancer was found in a study presented in June 2004 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

LDL levels were reduced by 20 points below the 100mg/d level recommended by the American Heart Association in a Cleveland Clinic Study in 2004.

In June of 2004, the American Diabetes Associate advised that the 16 million diabetics over 40 should consider statins even if they have normal cholesterol.

The various studies in the year have made this a drug of preference for patients. Persuasive evidence is now in after a full year of study in 2004 that statins are safer, more effective, and have more clinical applications than even aspirin.

Arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure is a medical condition where the blood pressure is chronically elevated. Persistent high blood pressure is one of the risk factors for strokes and heart attacks and is a leading cause of kidney failure. High blood pressure is currently defined as a blood pressure above 140/90 mmHg measured on both arms at two instances (several weeks apart). Recently there have been calls to define blood pressure over 120/80 as “pre-hypertension”. The most effective treatment for high blood pressure is proper diet, weight loss, and exercise. However, since this high blood pressure treatment is more easily prescribed than followed, high blood pressure drugs are widely used in the Western world.

Exercise can also reduce high blood pressure.  If you are going to be doing exercise consult a doctor first and get an exercise mat for any yoga, crunches, or sit-ups.

Inflammation of these plaques is the problem. That inflammation is caused by our defenses reaching the plaque in order to defend us against this invader. Think of it this way. When you have a cut the cut becomes swollen and painful only because our own defenses attack it to protect us.

Our white blood cells, which should not be confused with white porcelain veneers, are our warriors ready to thwart this attack by this foreign plaque invader. To prevent infection they secrete a host of chemicals which are intended to limit any infection and additional defense reactions causes an inflammatory response from our defense mechanisms.

This inflammation can cause some of these plaques to rupture. Then a blood clot will form over this ruptured plaque and this closes the artery enough to cause heart attacks, strokes, and other atherosclerotic complications.

It is still true that LDL is bad cholesterol. When in the blood this low-density lipoprotein can trigger arterial inflammation. Therefore cholesterol lowering drugs are still an effective treatment for the problem. An additional blood test to detect ongoing inflammation as well as cholesterol tests will give a more accurate risk assessment of the possibility of a heart attack or stroke. One of the markers of inflammation is that there will be large blood concentrations of C-reactive protein. Even if one has a good cholesterol reading an elevated amount of C-reactive protein can be a precursor to a heart attack.

Another role for the popular statin drugs will be to lessen this inflammation. The statins decrease the levels of LDL which allow them to be disposed from the body. They also limit the availability of chemicals that enable cells to respond to inflammation.

This inflammation may be why sometimes heart attacks happen without warning and why therapies (such as chiropractors birmingham) that do not assess inflammation sometimes fail.

Your heart is about the size of your fist and beats 100,000 times a day. Without major symptoms that heart is assumed to be working fine.. Women instead concentrate their health concerns on breast cancer and reproductive health. Actually the number one problem for women is heart disease.

Because women’s symptoms that may lead to a heart attack are so subtle, knowing one’s risk factors can be another clue to be more aware of what a women’s body is telling her. The odds are increased by aging and having a family history of heart disease. Heart disease occurs about 10 years after men have heart attacks. The years between 50 and 60 after menopause are a risk factor. Diabetics have two to four times the risk of heart disease. Diabetes is a bigger risk factor for women than for men and heart disease in female diabetics can begin without any symptoms. Heart disease risk is 69% higher in African-American women than in whites.

Because of these many subtle symptoms that are hard to detect it is recommended that women have more tests to determine the state of their heart. Blood sugar tests help determine diabetes and its risks. There is a hemoglobin A1c test that estimates average blood sugar over a month. C-reactive protein test is very important for women since they can have high levels of this inflammatory marker and yet not have high cholesterol.

The electrocardiogram test may be distorted for women due to breast tissue. Another technique that is better is echocardiography which employs ultrasound and nuclear imaging.

Dosages are typically from 500 mg up 2000 mg. A prescription is required for the high doses which are for individuals who have high levels of cholesterol. Dosage strength seems to correlate with side effects. Side effects include but are not limited to: flushing (redness, itching, warmth, redness), night sweats, palpitations, cardiac fibrillations or other arhymias, decreased glucose tolerance, migraines, and skin hyper pigmentation.

To avoid side effects Niacin doses can be started at the low end of 100mg/day and the doses can be increased to 250mg each week until the blood lipid levels start to normalize (or side effects develop).

Most importantly, as with any other type of medication, consult your health care practitioner to make sure niacin will not interfere with any other conditions you may have or other medications you are taking.

A study at Harvard University which was a 10 double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study concluded that fish oil supplementation resulted in a highly significant decrease in the number of tender joints and a significant shortening in the duration of morning stiffness among rheumatoid arthritis patients.

In 1960, two Danish scientists, Jorn Dyerberg and H.O. Bang, traveled to Greenland. They discovered that although Eskimos ate a lot of fat they didn’t suffer heart problems. They found that the high amount of fish in their diets protected the Eskimo’s hearts.

Fish oil has been found to benefit the heart in the following ways: favorably alters the balance of blood fats, reduces blood clotting, improves blood flow and lessens irregular heart beat patterns.

Fish oil is derived from the flesh of fatty fish such as salmon and from the livers of white fish, such as cod and halibut.  (These fish are often referred to as being as white as dental veneers.)

For artificial hearts to be beneficial there needs to be improvements in electronics, battery technology, fuel cells, prosthetics, as well as engineering changes. Having a practical artificial heart may not be a reality until perhaps the 21ST century.

Meanwhile other methods hold more hope in the short term. There are heart helpers being developed which are made to assist the left ventricular of the heart. This is the chamber that pumps oxygenated blood to the body.

Stem Cell research also holds promise since the heart has been proven to be able to repair itself using stem cells.

Artificial hearts, heart helpers and stem cells all are working to solve one of medicine’s elusive goals which is to help these patients who have seriously diseased hearts.  In addition, portable oxygen machines, like the Resperonics Ever Go, have also extended the life of cardiac patients.