by D. P. Noe

Created on: April 05, 2010   Last Updated: May 11, 2011

Heart disease is one of the major reasons that can shorten your life span.  In order to reduce your risk for heart disease, you need to make a conscious decision to change some of the negatice behaviors in your life. If you have any pre-existing medical conditions, this is even more of  a reason that you need to take proper care of your body and follow the medical advice of your physician. The more risk factors you have, the more likely are your chances of developing heart disease. Increasing your knowledge about your risks factors and making necessary changes is your road to having a healthier heart and body.

If you are a smoker, it is no secret to you that you need to quit. Smoking is the number risk factor for developing heart disease. If you smoke, your chances of having a heart attack are twice that of the nonsmoker. There are chemicals present in cigarettes that harm your body. Cigarettes contain carbon monoxide that when it is inhaled makes it difficult for your body to get oxygen. Cigarettes also contain nicotine that cause your blood vessels to constrict and the heart has to work harder to circulate your blood throughout the body. Nicotine also increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Smoking places your heart into working overtime. You can quit smoking, individuals do it all the time. You need to put away the excuses and do whatever it takes to kick the smoking habit.

If you have high cholesterol levels, there is too much fat and cholesterol floating around in your blood. These high levels cause the build up fat in your blood vessels and cause them to become narrow and make it hard for your blood to circulate. Again this increases the work of your heart into overtime. High cholesterol levels can be controlled by eating low fat diet, adding a exercise program to your daily schedule and losing the excess weight. Additionally, even if you are doing everything right you may need to take medication to help lower your cholesterol. This is a controllable risk factor and you can significantly reduce your risks for heart disease by keeping your cholesterol levels under control.

If you have high blood pressure you need to get it under control. Blood pressure is measured by the amount of force your blood puts on your blood vessels. You are considered to have high blood pressure if your blood pressure is greater than 140/90mmHg. High blood pressure places extra stress on your heart. Following a low fat diet, adding

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>