Take Heart

Understanding and Preventing Heart Attacks

Aug 6, 2009 Melinda Lund

Even though the month of February is technically "heart month," there's no better time than now to evaluate what you are (or should be) doing to keep your heart healthy.

First you need a definition of what a heart attack is and what the warning signs are (Source: The American Heart Association):

What is a Heart Attack?

"A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle itself — the myocardium — is severely reduced or stopped. The reduction or stoppage happens when one or more of the coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle is blocked. This is usually caused by the buildup of plaque (deposits of fat-like substances), a process called atherosclerosis. The plaque can eventually burst, tear or rupture, creating a "snag" where a blood clot forms and blocks the artery. This leads to a heart attack."

Heart Attack Warning Signs

A lot of people experience mild pain that they may attribute to indigestion when in fact it is a heart attack. The key with heart attack treatment is to seek help as soon as possible and not wait. Here are some of the most characteristic heart attack warning signs according to the American Heart Association:

• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness

"As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain."

What Can I Do?

Here are a few things you can do to help keep (or get) your heart into shape:

• maintain a healthy weight (lose weight if you need to)
• participate in 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week
• don’t smoke
• eat lean meats without the skin
• choose low-fat dairy (skim, 1% or 2%)
• drink in moderation
• decrease saturated fat
• eliminate trans fat (partially hydrogenated oil)
• decrease foods high in cholesterol
• increase healthy unsaturated fat (olive or canola oil)
• increase Omega 3 fatty acids (salmon or fish oil and ground flax seed)

Finally, it is very important that you know your blood lipid numbers and compare them to the recommendations (keep track of your numbers over time):

(SOURCE: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute).

Optimal Blood Lipid Levels:

• LDL Cholesterol = less than 100mg/dL
• HDL Cholesterol = greater than 60mg/dL
• Triglycerides = less than150mg/dL
• Total Cholesterol = less than 200mg/dL
• Cholesterol to HDL Ratio = less than 4.0

If you need more specifics, you can check out the American Heart Association website for some valuable “heart-to-heart” information.

The copyright of the article Take Heart in Health Field is owned by Melinda Lund. Permission to republish Take Heart in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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