1. Control your blood pressure and take regularly prescribed drugs according to your doctor's advice. 2. Check the level of good and bad cholesterol and consult your doctor about it. 3. Check the level of sugar in your blood. If raised, start the proper treatment immediately. 4. If you smoke, you should drop this bad habit. 5. If any of your relatives has ever had a heart attack or heart related problems, you may be genetically exposed to this kind of afflictions. 6. Try low-cholesterol diet. Avoid saturated fat and eat more vegetables and fruits. 7. Reduce the amount of salt to minimum. 8. Watch your weight so that you stay healthy. Keep in mind that overweight people have three times higher risk of contracting heart diseases. 9. Stay physically active. Try jogging, swimming, running and dancing. 10. With the assistance of a professional cardiologist, check your chances of having a heart attack or stroke and follow his advice.

Medical Advices & Recommendations

Cardiovascular disease can take many forms including: high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease or stroke.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), heart disease and stroke is the world’s largest killer, claiming 17.1 million lives a year. In the United States, more than 80 million people have some form of cardiovascular disease.

About 2,300 people die every day of cardiovascular disease, an average of one death every 38 seconds. More people die from heart disease than from all types of cancers, respiratory illnesses, accidents, and diabetes combined.
 
Coronary artery disease, the most common form of cardiovascular disease, is the leading cause of death in the US today.

We can improve these statistics by controlling certain factors that play an important role in a person’s chances of developing cardiac disease – these are called risk factors.

The major risk factors are: high total cholesterol, elevated level of LDL cholesterol (so called “bad” cholesterol), low concentration of HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol), high triglycerides, high blood pressure, diabetes (high blood glucose level), obesity, smoking, unhealthy diet, inactivity (lack of exercise), age, gender and family history of heart disease (For more information click/see: Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease).

Many people living in the United States are potential candidates for treating elevated cholesterol level. One third of patients with coronary artery disease haven’t had done basic cholesterol tests. Coronary artery disease and high LDL cholesterol level increase the risk of death compared to people with lower LDL cholesterol level. Researchers show that lowering LDL or raising HDL level decrease the risk of coronary artery disease. Cholesterol is indispensable for our life because it helps to absorb vitamin C which, in turn, is crucial for the bone structure and plays essential role in the production of certain hormones. It also actively participates in digestion system.

The excessive amount of cholesterol results in the production of atherosclerotic plaques which, in turn, cause permanent damage of arteries and consequently lead to a heart attack and stroke.

Information concerning heart diseases:

www.americanheart.org (American Heart Association)
www.acc.org ( American College of Cardiology)