By: Vanessa Flannery, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
Fresh Start Health, Grayson
The Basics: Overview
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Take steps today to lower your risk of heart disease.
To help prevent heart disease, you can:
- Eat healthy
- Get active
- Stay at a healthy weight
- Quit smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke
- Control your cholesterol and blood pressure
- Drink alcohol only in moderation
- Manage stress
Am I at risk for heart disease?
Anyone can get heart disease, but you’re at higher risk if you:
- Have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes
- Smoke
- Are overweight or have obesity
- Don’t get enough physical activity
- Don’t eat a healthy diet
- Your age and family history also affect your risk for heart disease. Your risk is higher if:
- You’re a woman over age 55
- You’re a man over age 45
- Your father or brother had heart disease before age 55
- Your mother or sister had heart disease before age 65
But the good news is there’s a lot you can do to prevent heart disease. Talk to your healthcare provider regarding your family history, health habits, blood pressure measurements and simple blood work to see if you are at risk for heart disease. Fresh Start Health clinic in Grayson is taking new patients and we would love to help you set health goals for 2022.
What is heart disease?
When people talk about heart disease, they’re usually talking about coronary heart disease (CHD). It’s also sometimes called coronary artery disease (CAD). This is the most common type of heart disease.
When someone has CHD, the coronary arteries (tubes) that take blood to the heart are narrow or blocked. This happens when cholesterol and fatty material, called plaque, build up inside the arteries.
Experts aren’t sure what causes plaque to build up. They think it may happen when your arteries get damaged by:
- Too much fat and cholesterol in the blood
- High blood pressure
- Smoking
- Too much sugar in the blood because of diabetes or other health problems
When plaque blocks an artery, it’s hard for blood to flow to the heart. A blocked artery can cause chest pain or a heart attack.
What is a heart attack?
A heart attack happens when blood flow to the heart is suddenly blocked. Part of the heart may die if the person doesn’t get help quickly.
Some common signs of a heart attack include:
- Pain or discomfort in the center or left side of the chest — or a feeling of pressure, squeezing, or fullness
- Pain or discomfort in the upper body — like the arms, back, shoulders, neck, jaw, or upper stomach (above the belly button)
- Shortness of breath or trouble breathing (while resting or being active)
- Feeling sick to your stomach or throwing up
- Stomach ache or feeling like you have heartburn
- Feeling dizzy, light-headed, or unusually tired
- Breaking out in a cold sweat
Not everyone who has a heart attack will have all the signs.
Don’t ignore changes in how you feel.
Signs of a heart attack often come on suddenly. But sometimes, they develop slowly — hours, days, or even weeks before a heart attack happens.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you feel unusually tired for several days, or if you develop any new health problems (like pain or trouble breathing). It’s also important to talk to your provider if existing health issues (like pain) are bothering you more than usual.
If you’ve had a heart attack in the past, it’s important to know that symptoms of a new heart attack might be different from your last one — so talk with your provider if you have any concerns about how you feel.
