Top Precautions To Prevent Heart Attack
Top Precautions To Prevent Heart Attack
- Top Precautions For Heart Attack
- Why is Diet a Part of Heart Attack Precautions?
- How Does High Blood Pressure Cause Increased Risk of Heart Disease?
- Why is it Important to Watch Your Weight to Prevent Heart Attacks?
- How Does Lifestyle have an Impact on Heart Attack Risk?
- What are The Best Screening Methods for Heart Disease?
Introduction
Almost half of the people who have had a heart attack sadly expire within the first hour of experiencing symptoms. This means that timely action can actually save lives, and it is important to be aware of the right actions in the event of such a medical emergency. To begin with, let’s look at some of the heart attack precautions that needs greater awareness. This will also help you dispel or ignore myths and wrong practices that cause complications in people.
Top Precautions For Heart Attack
There are many precautions that you need to take to ensure a healthy life with low risk of a heart attack. However, the top precautions can be clubbed into the following, with different approaches to each of these precautions.
- Diet.
- High blood pressure.
- Weight.
- Lifestyle.
- Screening, medications.
Why is Diet a Part of Heart Attack Precautions?
Diet is an important part of heart attack precautions as an improper or unhealthy diet can increase risk of heart attack in many ways. For instance, a diet that is high in fat can increase your risk of atherosclerosis, and hardening of the arteries. Food that is high in fat, cholesterol that can cause fatty plaques to build up in the arteries.
Diet is an important risk factor, as it contributes to obesity, high blood pressure, and uncontrolled diabetes. It is important to follow a diet that comprises the following:
- Low-saturated fat.
- High-fiber diet.
- Plant based food.
- Low salt diet.
How Does High Blood Pressure Cause Increased Risk of Heart Disease?
One of the main heart attack precautions is to keep your blood pressure levels low. Hypertension of high blood pressure, forces the heart to work harder as part of its function of pumping blood. This results in the thickening of the heart muscles, which also become stiff. This, results in abnormal functioning of the heart. A gradual effect of this is enlargement of the heart, impacting its efficiency. This compromises the functioning of the heart, making it difficult to deliver the necessary oxygen and nutrients to the body. Effects include structural and functional changes in the heart, such as hypertrophy of the left ventricle. This is known to increase the risk of heart attack and heart failure.
Why is it Important to Watch Your Weight to Prevent Heart Attacks?
It is reported that one out of five adults are likely to have heart disease by the year 2030. One of the important or major contributors to heart attack risk is obesity. This increases your risk by leading to other conditions like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia.
Additionally, adipose tissue hormonal secretions are known to induce inflammation and a prothrombotic state causing coronary heart disease. When you are obese, or overweight, fatty material begins building up in arteries, and this leads to atherosclerosis. This is precisely why you need to manage your weight as part of heart attack precautions. There is a clear connection between weight and heart attacks, and studies have also demonstrated that regardless of conditions like diabetes or hypertension, weight is by itself a factor.
How Does Lifestyle have an Impact on Heart Attack Risk?
The impact of lifestyle on heart attack risk is profound. In addition to diet, mentioned earlier, factors such as smoking, alcohol and stress contribute to risk. Smoking is known to cause an increase in blood pressure levels and also causes atherosclerosis. Similarly, alcohol causes an increase in blood pressure levels and cholesterol levels. This increases the risk of heart attack.
Smokers are to completely stop the habit, to reduce risk. Similarly, while alcohol is to also be stopped completely, in the event of inability, it is to be reduced. Drinking above 10 small glasses of wine every week is a clear risk. Similarly, consuming more than 6 pints of low strength beer a week is also a risk. The best option is to reduce intake to minimal levels and if possible, stop the habit completely. These heart attack precautions will definitely lower your risk considerably.
What are The Best Screening Methods for Heart Disease?
Among the multiple options used for screening heart attack, the most common are the following methods.
- ECG.
- Blood tests.
- Calcium scoring.
- Stress test.
There are some preventive tests that you need to undergo, to identify risks and take suitable remedial measures.
- Medical history.
- Blood pressure.
- Weight, BMI.
- LDL, HDL levels.
- Blood glucose levels.
- Coronary calcium scan.
This will help detect and inform you of possible risks of heart attack. Based on this, you can then take necessary heart attack precautions to reduce risk. These are all markers of what is happening in your body and how this contributes to a risk of heart attack.
There is another important aspect that needs to be considered. There is a genetic component in heart attack risk. If there is someone in your family who has had a heart attack, there is also the possibility of it being passed on to you. Similarly, there could be certain genetic mutations that expose you to higher risk of heart attack.
To put is differently, these genetic components may put you at risk of conditions that create the risk of heart attack. There are tests that help you determine if you are at risk. By undergoing these tests, you can clearly determine if there is a genetic angle or probability of heart attack. Based on the test results you can then seek medical advice and take the right remedial and pre-emptive methods.
The tests that help determine the genetic component include are as listed below. There are advanced genetic testing facilities in Tamilnadu, that can help you understand risk of attack. The tests are uncomplicated and simple, and take very less time. A saliva sample may be taken to look at possible risk of heart attack causing conditions. Tests include the following:
- Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Genotyping.
- Whole Genome Sequencing.
- Whole Exome Sequencing.
- Targeted Gene Panels.
- Polygenic Risk Scores.
- Copy Number Variation Analysis.
- Familial Hypercholesterolemia Genetic Testing.
- Next-Generation Sequencing.
- Mitochondrial DNA Sequencing.
- Epigenetic Testing.
Medically Reviewed by
Dr.Rajasekar Cardiologist
Dr. Rajasekar is a cardiologist in Chennai, with extensive experience in the field. He completed his MBBS from Madurai Kamaraj University, followed by an MD in General Medicine and a DM in Cardiology from The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University (TNMGRMU).
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