Prevention of cardiovascular disease- CVD or cardiovascular disease is the cause of 67% of deaths in Ukraine. The risk of SD increases with age. Men aged 45 and over and women 55 and over are at greater risk.
The most important risk reduction factor is a healthy diet (along with quitting smoking and alcohol). Since diet is the prevention of heart failure, included in the list of any kind of precautions, let’s dwell in more detail. Cardiovascular disease.
A diet for the heart and blood vessels should include:
- an abundance of fruits and vegetables
- whole grains
- nuts, fish, poultry
- vegetable oils of the first extraction.
Exclude:
- red and processed meat
- refined and simple carbohydrates
- foods and drinks with abundant added sugar
- high salt content (marinades, smoked meats)
- foods with trans fats.
Individuals who comply with this diet plan have a 31% reduce risk of coronary heart disease, a 33% lower risk of diabetes, and a 20% decrease risk of stroke.
A 2020 Harvard study found that the majority of respondents who ate a healthy diet had a 14–21% lower risk of CVD than those who ate the least.
The results also inferred statistics that adherence to a healthy lifestyle is the best prevention of acute heart failure, effective in:
- 80% of cases of coronary heart disease
- 50% of ischemic strokes,
- 80% of sudden cardiac deaths and 72% of premature deaths are associated with SD.
Measure for the prevention of diseases of the heart and blood vessels
When cardiologists talk about preventive measures, they mean one of three types of prevention:
- secondary, when the patient has already experienced serious heart problems
- primary, aimed at ensuring that risky patients do not have the first heart attack or stroke
- or the initial one to avoid the first two.
Initial measure
These are steps before taking direct medical measures, ideally from childhood or adolescence. This is a healthy lifestyle, which in itself is vascular prevention. It is designed to prevent:
- inflammatory processes in the heart: myocarditis, endocarditis, pericarditis , eventually leading to complications
- atherosclerotic vascular changes
- various forms of endothelial dysfunction: it is the endothelium, the tissue lining the surface of blood vessels and cardiac cavities, that is responsible for blood pressure, the formation of new vessels (angiogenesis), and regulates thrombus formation.
Health is based on 4 pillars:
- physical Culture
- reasonable diet
- quitting alcohol and smoking
- weight control.
These 4 healthy lifestyle factors are designed to prevent the 4 main risk factors that ultimately cause cardiovascular episodes – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight and chronic stress.
What measures to prevent heart and vascular disease and the sooner you start to practice, the more chances you have to protect yourself from CVD.
First measure
The first are actions to prevent a person at risk of heart disease from having their first heart attack or stroke, needing angioplasty or surgery, or developing some other form of CV.
This is the prevention of blood clots in blood vessels and support of the cardiovascular system.
Primary prevention is usually directed at people who have already developed sufficient hypertension and high cholesterol. These are the prerequisites for angina pectoris, thrombophlebitis,
As with secondary prevention, primary prevention is aimed at controlling these risk factors through lifestyle changes and, if necessary, taking medications.
Emergence of warning signs of CVD:
- dyspnea
- tingling / chest pain
- swelling of the legs and face
- chronic fatigue
- violation of the rhythm of the heart
- constant numbness of the limbs- means that inflammation, atherosclerosis and / or endothelial dysfunction is already present and in most cases irreversible.
Second measure
These are complex preventive efforts (including medication), which are used after a bright manifestation of CVD:
- heart attack or stroke
- surgical intervention: vascular surgery or bypass surgery
- an acute episode of ischemia, tachycardia, hypertensive crisis.
This includes taking medications such as aspirin and / or statins to lower cholesterol levels, quitting smoking and losing weight if necessary, exercising and following a healthy diet.
While secondary prevention of vascular atherosclerosis may sound like drinking Borjomi late, these steps can prevent the progression of heart and vascular disease and prevent premature death from repeated stroke or heart attack.
The number one killer for first heart attack survivors is second heart attack.
Conclusions
The question: how to avoid heart problems is identical in meaning to another: how to remove risk factors from your life. And, if biological (age, genetics, gender) are not subject to us, then the rest are in our zone of control. That’s why:
1. Avoid tobacco in any form – Smoking (including passively smoking) cigarettes raises blood pressure and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. This is not only the best prevention of heart and vascular diseases, but also the symptoms of other diseases.
2. Eat right- Eat a minimum of saturated fat, red meat, and increase your intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The use of polyunsaturated fatty acids Omega 3 is an effective prevention of cerebral vascular sclerosis.
3. Stay slim. Excess BMI (> 25) increases the risk of hypercholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
4. Exercise– Exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and can also help control stress, improve sleep, improve mood, control weight, and improve cognitive performance.
A 30 minute walk, five days a week, will be of great benefit to most people. Any quantity of exercise is better than nothing.
5. Limit alcohol– Excess alcohol provokes increased work of the heart and can lead to myocardial infarction, and too thick blood – to stroke. Refusal from alcohol – prevention of cerebral vessels.
Failure to comply with points 1 to 5 are the main causes of myocardial infarction.
6. Get enough sleep– Poor and inadequate sleep is associated with stress, and this is a high-risk cardiovascular and angiofactor.
The good news is that by using these guidelines, roughly 80% of all CVD cases – heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes – are preventable.
The bad thing is that you have to do all this from an early age, otherwise you can pass the point of no return unnoticed for yourself. And it’s good if only primary measures are needed in later life.
The main thing is to control high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, eat right, do reasonable physical activity and not smoke under any circumstances.
