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Avoid Coronary Artery Disease by Following these Tips

by Terry Orsi » on Mar 10, 2016 0

Consistently ranked as the nation’s primary cause of death, heart disease causes a staggering 1 in every 4 deaths. Tallied up, heart disease kills 610,000 people every year and currently shows no signs of stopping. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart disease, leading to 370,000 deaths annually in the U.S. alone.

When the causes of CAD are analyzed, it’s not hard to see why it’s the leading form of heart disease. CAD is caused by a buildup of plaque on the walls of the arteries, meaning that as plaque runs through your arteries, some gets stuck and forms buildups that restrict blood flow. The simple takeaway is that you want your blood to flow easily, and CAD stops that from happening. The main causes of this are lack of exercise, poor diet, and sedentary/unhealthy lifestyle habits.

The solution? Well, bad news for those that have already built up plaque: once you have it, it doesn’t really go away. You can reverse severe atherosclerosis (plaque buildup) with surgery, or you can take these preventative measures:

Exercise

Exercise, for good reason, may be the most referenced recommendation for maintaining heart health. Exercise makes your heart work harder for the duration of your workout, meaning that your heart becomes stronger and therefore more able to deal with plaque buildup when/if it occurs. Exercise also improves the elasticity of the arteries, making them more supple and less prone to cracking and blockage. The result is a more robust cardiovascular system.

Diet

Another huge contributor to heart health, diet has a huge influence on plaque buildup. Avoid saturated fats and trans fats as much as possible as these are major contributors to atherosclerosis. Saturated and trans fats are easy to spot in the nutrition facts of your food and are sources of cholesterol, an artery blocking substance. Cholesterol rich foods include fatty meats, eggs, and butter. By reducing your intake of foods with bad cholesterol, you’ll also be reducing your risk of heart disease.

Lifestyle

Aside from controlling your exercise and eating habits, it’s important to look at your lifestyle as a whole. Smoking increases your risk of CAD drastically and excess drinking can increase blood pressure, a contributor to CAD. Control these factors along with your weight to help prevent CAD from taking hold.

When used in conjunction, these measures should greatly reduce your chances or even help reverse the early stages of CAD. If you already have a severe case of CAD, you should consult a medical professional, and potentially seek surgical treatment. Before committing to any surgery, research your doctor so that you can avoid being part of the many cases of surgical error. If you do face any issues with your doctor, reach out to an attorney such as this medical malpractice lawyer in Philadelphia.

For now, follow these tips, keep a close eye on your heart’s health, and hopefully you can avoid the need to have heart surgery in the future.

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