| health care ::Heart Disease - Your Parents Are Not To Blame |
|
If your grandparents, mother and father all suffered from heart disease, you may feel doomed to heart failure. Although heredity is a factor in the cause of heart disease, that's all it is, simply one factor among many. Heredity, according to one recent study may account for only 10% of the risk factors. Then what is the other 90%? Smoking By now everybody must be aware that cigarettes contain various elements which will damage arteries, making it easier for cholesterol deposits to build unhealthy, blood-blocking plaque on the internal artery walls. Smoking also makes platelets, the component of blood that causes clotting, to be more active, and thus the risk of a clot rises. Obesity Another cause of heart disease, and various other health problems is obesity. Often obesity comes with high cholesterol and blood pressure, which we know increase the risk of heart disease, but new studies are also showing a correlation between abdominal fat and heart disease in a way that is not yet fully understood. Either way, as the circumference of stomach increases, the risk of heart disease seems to increase more. High cholesterol The body needs cholesterol and can actually produce all it needs, so when we ingest foods high in cholesterols, like dairy and meat products, our bodies get a lot more cholesterol than they need. The body saves cholesterol instead of excreting it, and that cholesterol gets stored as plaque along the walls of the arteries. Too many cholesterol deposits lead to artery blockage, Ischemic Heart Disease and clots. High blood pressure High blood pressure is also a major cause of heart disease. Imagine this, your arteries are narrowed because of all that cholesterol stored in there, yet your body is the same size and needs the same amount of blood; so your heart is trying to pump a lot of blood through a passage that is getting too small. Just as a car motor can get worn out trying to suck air through an air filter that has not been cleaned, your heart can overtax itself trying to force blood through blocked passages. Stress is particularly associated with heart disease in addition to a general decline in one's health. Related links: Cause of Heart Disease: Heart disease is caused by cholesterol and plaque buildup in the inside walls of ..... Article on Heart Disease: coronary heart disease: disease characterized by an inadequate supply of oxygen-rich blood to the heart ...... Definition of Heart Disease: Congenital Heart Disease glossary includes a list of Congenital Heart Disease ..... Back to 1st-health-insure resource. | |
and do not necessarily represent the views of 1st-health-insure.com and/or its associates Copyright (c) 2006 1st-health-insure:Heart Disease - Your Parents Are Not To Blame |