The Road Back: How to Heal Your Heart
Luckily, not only is there a map but also it can be personalized to fit each patient's unique journey toward a healthier heart. Use this article as a guide to initiate a discussion with your physician about the ways you can improve your heart health.
Risk Factors
The first markers on your map are called risk factors. Risk factors are "activities or conditions that put you at risk for heart disease." And the more you have, the greater chance you have of developing heart problems.
There are two types of risk factors: those you can control, and those you can't. Risk factors you can't control include your age (the older you are, the greater your risk for heart disease), your family medical history (whether heart disease runs in your family), gender, and ethnicity.
The risk factors to focus on are those you can control. Because if you modify those, you can reduce your risk of heart disease. Controllable risk factors are:
Smoking: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that every cigarette smoked steals seven minutes from a smoker's life. Smokers are two to four times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than nonsmokers.
High Blood Pressure or Hypertension: More commonly known as high blood pressure, hypertension is defined as a chronic, or long-lasting, increase in blood pressure above the normal range. High blood pressure increases the pressure of the blood against artery walls. It increases the workload on the heart and can also contribute to the risk of developing deposits on artery walls. As a result, high blood pressure can lead to an increased risk of heart attack, angina, stroke, kidney failure, and peripheral artery disease.
High Cholesterol: While necessary to your body's function, too much cholesterol can be detrimental to your health. High cholesterol is defined by New York University Vascular Associates as an elevated fat content in the blood. High cholesterol is is one of the major risk factors for heart disease because it can accumulate on artery walls and stifle blood flow.
Diabetes: Doctors have researched the link between diabetes and heart disease. Successfully monitoring and controlling diabetes will decrease your chance of heart disease. High blood glucose levels typical of diabetes can lead to increased deposits of fatty materials on blood vessel walls, which may affect blood flow, increasing the chance of clogging and hardening of blood vessels (atherosclerosis).
Lack of Exercise: Exercising can reduce blood pressure, help control diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol. The American Heart Association reports that regular physical activity after heart attack improves survival rate and quality of life.
Obesity: Obesity is an increase in total body fat. Using the Body Mass Index, or BMI, you can determine whether you are obese. There are BMI calculators available online. If your BMI is greater than 30, you are considered obese. If your BMI is greater than 40, you are considered morbidly obese. According to the American Heart Association, obesity is related to cholesterol disorders and hypertension. Furthermore, severe obesity is associated with abnormal heart function and structure.
Stress: Chronic stress, which releases stress hormones into the body, can increase blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol levels. Even though evidence suggests that stress is associated with the risk of heart disease, more research is needed to clarify the definitive relationship between them.
Excessive Alcohol Consumption: Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can raise blood pressure and contribute to heart failure. It is also associated with obesity and can produce irregular heart beats.
Cardiac Rehabilitation
The next marker on the road to better heart health is developing your personal cardiac rehabilitation program. These programs are designed to support the physical challenges you face after heart disease events as well as the emotional ones. It involves medical counseling, and modifying exercise and lifestyle habits. The ultimate goal of a cardiac rehabilitation program is to stabilize, slow, or reverse the progression of heart disease. As you plan your cardiac rehabilitation program, you may consult with cardiologists, primary care physicians, nutritionists, or exercise specialists.
The American Heart Association identifies the following elements of a cardiac rehabilitation program:
- Counseling to help you understand and manage the disease
- Development of an exercise program
- Nutrition education
- Modifying risk factors (discussed above)
- Vocational counseling to help you return to work
- Informing you on physical limitations
- Lending emotional support
- Using prescribed medications appropriately
The key to successfully navigating your cardiac rehabilitation program is perseverance; it will only work if you stick to it. And though some parts of the program may be demanding, the benefits of the program will not only improve your heart's health but it will also increase your overall health and improve your quality of life.
As you wend your way down the road to a healthier heart, we invite you to use the resources at My Healthy Heart Info as well as the links below along the way.
For more heart health information, visit the American Heart Association Web site.
The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation also has an excellent guide for people looking to heal their heart. For more information, click here.
