How To Avoid Heart Attack : 10 Tips To Prevent Heart Attack
Keeping your heart healthy is a tricky job and requires a lot of work on your part. However, the heart is one of the vital organs of our body and currently heart diseases are reaching the sky so it kinda becomes important for us to take care of it. Though we are here to know how to prevent heart attack an emergency condition, I can assure you that practically every heart disease will benefit from these preventions.
Some of the risk factors for heart attacks are modifiable and some are non-modifiable. You cant just stop someone from aging neither can you change somebodys sex or race.
Hence there is really no way to escape the risk associated with your race, age, sex or genetics but there are certain other modifiable risk factors which are far more important and can be avoided to prevent heart attack.
What Questions Should I Ask My Doctor
- How concerned should I be about having another heart attack?
- How successful are the treatments for a heart attack?
- Whats the most important thing I can do to prevent a silent heart attack?
A note from Cleveland Clinic
You may not even know youve had a silent heart attack until weeks or months after it happens. Its best to know whats normal for your body and get help when something doesnt feel right. Knowing the subtle signs of a silent heart attack can help you identify one. Be sure to get regular checkups with your healthcare provider. You can also help yourself by treating medical problems that can lead to a heart attack. Switching to a healthier diet and adding exercise can help as well.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 07/28/2021.
References
Keep Cholesterol In Check
If your cholesterol is controlled, within normal values and you are not planning to build it up in future then heart diseases are the last thing you need to worry about.
Diabetic patients also need to pay attention to this part, for this bad cholesterol build-up is the one which is driving you closer to heart attack. Yeah, diabetic patients also have bad cholesterol profile. Cholesterol causes atherosclerosis, which is a heart attack waiting to happen.
Eat vegetables, a little extra green in your diet. Avoid oily, spicy cholesterol-rich diet. No junk food. Go out for a walk. Work on your cardio, burn away the extra fat your body is accumulating. You may need statins to lower your cholesterol level if it is way too much.
Diabetic patients need to keep their sugar in check. Dont forget to take your medicine and if possible do pre-meal and post-meal sugar charting. This will help you keep sugar under control and will also let u know if you need to go see a doctor.
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Symptoms Of Heart Attack
Pain in the back of the sternum, in the retrosternal area. The discomfort begins to manifest itself in one of the arms, mainly the left, extending up to the neck, for approximately 40 minutes.
Palpitations increase and shortness of breath worsens.
Nausea is also included in the symptoms. Attention, not every time the person feels nauseous should be directly related to a heart attack. These usually manifest after step one. The affected person may even vomit as a subsequent reaction.
The body can go from one extreme to another with its temperature. This varies from person to person. Some may go to the point of breaking out a cold sweat, while others feel like their body temperature rises suddenly.
Anxiety also says present. We know that this is a life-threatening case, but it is advisable to seek help quickly, as your own concern can threaten you.
How To Stop Heart Attack
In order to stop heart attack naturally or at home, sit down in any chair, couch, sofa or divan for better relaxation. If there are no objects to sit on, sit on the ground or floor, e.g. on your knees or with criss-crossed legs. Relax all your muscles.
Next, instead of taking your usual huge inhalation, take a slightly smaller inhalation and then immediately relax all muscles, especially upper chest and all other breathing muscles. Take another inhalation and again completely relax.
With each breath, take a small or reduced inhalation and then completely relax. You will soon experience light air hunger. The goal is to preserve this light level of air hunger for 2-3 minutes . See the video or more details related to this breathing exercise How to stop heart attack fast.
The breathing can be frequent during this reduced or shallow breathing but this is OK. If you do the exercise correctly, you will notice that your angina pain due to your heart attack disappears.
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Risk Factors For A Heart Attack
Everyone should take steps to prevent heart disease. However, certain people are at a greater risk than others. Risk factors for heart attack and stroke depend on one’s lifestyle, habits, and health conditions. For example, obesity increases the risk of a heart attack. People who are obese often develop conditions such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Both of these conditions can cause heart problems. Being overweight or obese can lead to coronary heart disease even if diabetes or high blood pressure is not present. Lifestyle habits can also affect your heart. Smoking, for example, can damage arteries, elevate blood pressure, limit the amount of oxygen delivered to body tissues, and increase the risk of blood clots.
Lack of exercise or physical activity and a poor diet can contribute to heart disease. People who eat unhealthy foods may have elevated cholesterol levels that can lead to heart and vessel problems. Physical activity can counter the ill effects of other conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Other risk factors for a heart attack include age, family history of heart disease, and stress. Men 45 years or older, and women who are older than 55 are at the greatest risk. The risk is also increased if a family member such as a parent, grandparent, or sibling has had a heart attack. Excessive stress, and how a person’s body responds to it, is another factor.
Can Exercise Really Make My Heart Stronger
It really can. Moving your body has enormous health benefits: Exercise reduces blood pressure and increases HDL or “good” cholesterol while helping lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol.Physical activity can help rid the body of arterial plaque build-upand is one of the most effective tools to strengthen heart muscle. Exercise is also a great stress reliever. And of course, it can help you look hot in those new Levi’s.
Here’s more: Getting regular exercise makes it less likely that you will suffer a heart attackand if you do, it will likely be less severe.
Recommendation: Not all exercise is created equal when it comes to heart health. According to Johns Hopkins exercise physiologist Kerry J. Stewart, Ed.D., “Aerobic exercise and resistance training are the most important for heart health.” The American Heart Association offers some great tips to help get you moving!
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Heart Attacks And Medication
If you cannot alleviate the upcoming attack in 5 minutes, use 1/3 of your standard medication. After taking medication, repeat the breathing exercise, monitoring the severity of the symptoms. If it is still not possible to stop an attack, again take 1/3 of your usual dose. Do the breathing exercise once more. Russian medical doctors and practitioners found that most patients could eliminate their symptoms in 1-5 minutes.
Clinical References
Henderson Y, Acapnia and shock. I. Carbon dioxide as a factor in the regulation of the heart rate, American Journal of Physiology 1908, 21: p. 126-156.
Kohn RM & Cutcher B, Breath-holding time in the screening for rehabilitation potential of cardiac patients Scand J Rehabil Med 1970 2: 105-107.
Or go back to the Heart disease
No Substance Abuse To Prevent Heart Attack
Substance abuse is a fancy term for drug use. Alcohol and cocaine are usually associated with heart attack. Cocaine can cause coronary artery spasm and thereby a heart attack event. Alcohol, on the other hand, has a mixed review over the internet, though some say it is healthy for your heart, others like me say its not. What should one accept?
Well after some hard sought research I would say that one drink a day is good for the heart in a healthy person. Now it has so many loopholes. Like how will one define a healthy person? An obese person not having any heart disease or hypertension is healthy?
I dont think so. Again while a single drink is healthy, it is not so for many drinks. I actually have seen patients who say that they drank 7 drinks on Sunday because they were allowed one drink per day.
You see my point? If not yet then let me help you in another manner. Alcohol is a known risk factor for hypertension. It is a risk factor for pancreatitis. It damages the coronary endothelium. It damages the pancreatic cell. It is highly unhealthy for your liver. Better avoid it when you have a chance guys, it wont help your heart much.
Now that we have discussed all this, there are certain other risk factors which you should know about. You cant do anything about them because they are non-modifiable but you take certain precautions with these other risk factors.
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How To Stop A Heart Attack
Overview
Many people worry about experiencing a heart attack in their lifetime, and with good reason: its estimated that an American has a heart attack every
tens of thousands of Americans survive heart attacks every year.
Acting quickly when you suspect a heart attack is coming on can greatly improve your chances for survival.
Most of the time, heart attacks start slowly with just mild discomfort and pain, giving warning signs before they strike. If you experience any of the following symptoms, call 911 or ask someone to call 911 immediately.
These could be signs of a heart attack:
- Discomfort in the chest, especially the center, that lasts more than a few minutes or comes and goes. The discomfort may feel like heaviness, fullness, squeezing, or pain.
- Discomfort in the upper body parts such as the arms, back, neck, jaw, or stomach. This may feel like pain or general discomfort.
- Shortness of breath. This may come with or without chest discomfort.
- Unusual sensations such as a cold sweat, nausea, vomiting, lightheadedness, or dizziness. Women are more likely than men to experience these kinds of symptoms.
Know Your Family History
Genetics play a huge part of heart disease. Also, the risk factors heart attack is associated with, largely have a genetic component, be it diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension. All three of them have one or another proven genetic component. Research out there is still looking for, and will surely find some more connection in future.
How does it help you? We already know that this is a non-modifiable risk factor. Yet there are certain precautions you can take. Look in your family history. Has anyone ever died of heart attack? It is important if the one afflicted with heart disease is your direct blood relative Your mom, dad or brothers.
If you find such history then get your heart checked at an early age say 40 years and keep at least one visit to the doctor in the month for your heart. You can also start avoiding these risk factors we discussed and start making your heart healthier.
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What Are The Warning Signs Of Heart Disease
Warning signs are a good thing. They alert us to a problem and give us information that we may be able to act on. Heart disease can manifest in a number of different ways, including chest pain tightness or discomfort shortness of breath dizziness irregular heartbeat a sense of doom becoming easily winded by regular everyday activities, and more.
Recommendation: If you experience any of these symptoms, particularly together, call your doctor immediatelyit could be a sign of a heart attack.
What Is Cholesterol And Is It Always Bad
Despite its reputation, cholesterol is not exactly the c-word. Yes, high cholesterol is not a good thing, but cholesterol in general is necessary for your existence. Seventy-five percent of this waxy, fat-like substance is produced by your liver and other cells of your body. The rest you usually get by eating animal products like meat, egg yolks, or dairy .
So why do you need It? Cholesterol is necessary to make your hormones such as estrogen, or testosterone production of vitamin D and is a building block for human tissue. Too much of it, however, can reduce your blood flow through your arteries which can lead to chest pain, stroke or heart attack.
Recommendation: Visit your primary care doctor to check your cholesterol and other risk factors. The American Heart Association recommends to do it every four to six years. If you are over 35, you should do it even more often. Your doctor will explain what your results mean and suggest the next steps, but you don’t want your LDL level to be 190 or higher.
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Menopause And Heart Health
Menopause does not cause heart disease. But the decline in estrogen after menopause may be one of several factors in the increase in heart disease risk.
Other risks, such as weight gain, may also increase around the time of menopause.
Hormone therapy can be used to treat some of the problems women have during menopause. However, FDA has not approved any estrogen hormone replacement therapy for reduction of heart disease.
Avoid Sedentary Lifestyle To Prevent Heart Attack
The sedentary lifestyle is a type of lifestyle which involves little or no physical activity. Nowadays, it is quite common in the young generation where all they do is sit eat watch and eat again. An individual in sedentary lifestyle spends most of their day sitting while in general avoid any work whatsoever. Even if they do some work it is barely a physical task and involves only sitting.
The sedentary lifestyle is pretty risky on its own. Not only in heart diseases but in a migraine, diabetes, obesity, anxiety and many more. If you are having such a lifestyle, you should start working yourself more. If possible avoid sitting for a long time.
Go out for a walk in your lunch like instead of having lunch in your office, go to the cafeteria. Meet your colleagues in the hallway. Make a bet on who can stand more. This will eventually make you an active person and soon a healthy one.
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Tips For Heart Attack Prevention
The goal after your heart attack is to keep your heart healthy and lower your risk of having another heart attack. Take your medications as directed, make healthy lifestyle changes, see your doctor for regular heart checkups, and consider a cardiac rehabilitation program.
Why do I need to take drugs after a heart attack?
You might take certain drugs after a heart attack to:
- Prevent blood clots
- Prevent plaques by lowering cholesterol
You might take medications that treat an uneven heartbeat, lower your blood pressure, control chest pain, and treat heart failure.
Know the names of your medications, what theyâre used for, and when you need to take them. Go over your medications with your doctor or nurse. Keep a list of all your medications, and take it to each of your doctor visits. If you have questions about them, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
It sounds like a no-brainer, but don’t skip your medications. Many people don’t take their medications the way their doctor told them to. Figure out what keeps you from taking your medicine — it could be side effects, cost, or forgetfulness — and ask your doctor for help.
What lifestyle changes are needed after a heart attack?
To keep heart disease from getting worse and to head off another heart attack, follow your doctor’s advice. You might need to change your lifestyle. Here are some changes you can make that can cut your risk and put you on the path to a healthier life:
Why should I take part in cardiac rehabilitation?
Take Any Prescribed Heart Meds
We know. We dont like the idea of prescription drugs, either. However, if a licensed physician prescribes meds to deal with a heart condition, just take them.
If you have an issue taking your medications on time for whatever reason cost, forgetfulness, or side-effects, get some advice from your physician.
Those that dont already should consider taking a daily Omega-3 supplement. Consisting of DHA and EHA properties, Omega-3 supplements are very heart healthy.
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What The Study Examined
Men between the ages of 45 and 79 were recruited in 1997, and surveyed about their eating and activity habits, along with data including their weight, family history of heart disease, and level of education. A total of 20,721 men without any history of cardiovascular disease, cancer, or diabetes were then tracked over an 11-year period.
Five diet and lifestyle factors were examined: diet, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, belly fat, and daily activity level.
What Lifestyle Changes Can I Make To Lower My Risk Of Heart Disease
Glad you asked. It means you might be interested in making changes big and small.
Recommendation: Adapt your lifestyle by following these six heart-savings steps:
Stop smoking or vaping. This is one time you want to be a quitter. If you need assistance check out this helpful guide from the American Heart Association.
Eat a healthy diet. Use more vegetables and fruits in your diet. Go easy on white bread. To quote Michael Pollan again: “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.”
Move your body. Be physically active. Every. Single. Day. Getting at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity can help lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and keep your waistline looking trim.
Reduce stress. Research shows a clear link between being highly stressed and heart disease. If you are stressed out, there are management tools that can help.
Lower your blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke, which is a leading cause of disability in the United States. Prevention is key.
Manage high cholesterol. Cholesterol spackling the walls of your arteries is a disaster waiting to happen. Sooner or later, that fat could trigger a heart attack or stroke. If you’ve got high cholesterol, lower your intake of trans and saturated fats, and move your body . If these lifestyle measures do not work, medication may be needed. And to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don’t miss these35 Places You’re Most Likely to Catch COVID.
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