**** Stress and your heart ********

What is stress?
Stress is a demand or pressure placed on someone, making them feel tense, anxious, fearful, depressed or uncomfortable.

The Australian Heart Foundation has identified factors that are commonly regarded as components of ‘stress'. These include:

depression, anxiety, panic disorder
social isolation and lack of quality social support
life events such as bereavement, earthquakes and terrorist attacks
work-related ‘stressors'
anger and hostility.

Managing stress
Understanding stress is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle. Stress management and relaxation are vital in ensuring good mental health, and in adjusting to the pressures and strains of everyday life.

Heart disease is stressful

Going to hospital, facing surgery and dealing with the changes in your daily life and family routine – it can be traumatic. For some people, the diagnosis of a heart condition or living with ongoing health problems may be a continual strain. Managing stress is one element in coping with chronic disease.

Positive stress

A certain amount of stress can be a good thing. It can help you focus and achieve what you want to do. It brings anticipation and excitement into your life - with a holiday or family celebration. It helps you to grow and change, to avoid danger, and to strive for a goal.

Negative stress

Stress can also be negative. Situations that many of us find difficult or upsetting include:

• conflict with others
• meeting deadlines
• writing exams
• caring for dependants
• moving house
• relationship problems
• health problems.
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Change Your Eating Habits For A Health Heart

If you have heart disease or if you are at high risk for acquiring it you have probably been told by your doctor that a healthy diet is important। Lets take a look at some changes you can make to your eating habits in order to improve your health and prevent heart disease from occurring.



Fats
It’s very important to significantly reduce the amount of saturated fats and trans fats that you include in your diet। Reducing these types of fats is perhaps the best action you can take in order to lower your cholesterol level and decrease the chances of acquiring coronary artery disease. If you have too much cholesterol in your blood this can eventually lead to having too much plaque in the arteries which increases the probability of you having a heart attack and a stroke.

Saturated fat should be below seven percent of the total daily calories that you consume। Trans fats should be below one percent of the total calories that you consume each day. If you are an adult who is in good health, your intake of cholesterol should be below three hundred milligrams on a daily basis, while adults who have a high level of bad cholesterol (LDL) should consume less that two hundred milligrams per day of cholesterol.

In order to lower the amount of saturated fats and trans fats in your diet you should significantly decrease the amount of solid fats such as shortening, butter and margarine you consume। It’s a good idea to use low fat items as substitutes for the unhealthy fats such as putting some salsa on a baked potato and substitute low fat yogurt for butter. Some people who are at risk for heart disease avoid putting margarine or butter on their toast and choose to put sugar free fruit spreads instead. When you are cooking use fats such as olive oil and canola oil. Select margarines that mention trans fat free on the product and you might want to select cholesterol lowering margarines.

Protein

To reduce the risk of heart disease, choose protein sources that are low in fat such as poultry, fish, eggs as well as low fat types of dairy products। Eat skinless chicken breasts and avoid fried foods, consume skim milk and avoid whole milk. Make sure that legumes such as beans, peas as well as lentils are a part of your diet since they are a great source of protein and are low in fat and do not contain any cholesterol at all. To prevent heart disease it’s a good idea to have a large amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet since they are full of dietary fiber and vitamins and minerals. A diet that includes a large amount of soluble fiber will decrease your cholesterol level and decrease the chances of acquiring heart disease. Whole grains are also good sources of fiber and should be a part of your diet. Eating a healthy diet is important in order to prevent heart disease.

Niacin is the closest thing available to a perfect treatment that corrects most causes of coronary heart disease. Niacin blocks the release of fatty acids from fat cells. Niacin plays a critical role in energy production, gene expression, and hormone synthesis. You cannot live without it. Niacin also tends to shift LDL particle distribution to larger particle size and improve HDL functioning. The intake of 3 grams Niacin for as little as two weeks can reduce serum cholesterol by 26 percent.

**The Benefits of Stopping Smoking **

In part one we talked about the benefits in the first few days of giving up smoking and how within twenty minutes good stuff is going on in your body. In this part we’re going to talk about the benefits after a couple of weeks up until 15 years where your risk of coronary heart disease becomes the same as a person that never smoked.
Lets start within a couple of months of giving up. Through these weeks your circulation and breathing improve making it easier to walk.
Your lungs start functioning up to 30% better.
Starting in this time and sometimes taking up to a year your coughing, fatigue and shortness of breathe decrease and your immune system improves.
This makes you a lot healthier in only a year and you will be able to feel the difference, I know I did.
Within one year of giving up smoking your risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker and then within two years the risk of you having a heart attack drops to near normal.
This means that after two years you are one your way to been almost as healthy as someone who doesn’t smoke.
Within five years of quitting your risk of having a stroke is reduced and the risk of getting lung cancer is halved.
This is almost reduced to similar of someone who has never smoked by ten years and chances of getting other cancers such as mouth, larynx, bladder and kidney are dramatically reduced.

After 15 years the risk of you having coronary heart disease becomes the same as someone who has never smoked. That is good news isn’t it. From day one your becoming more healthier and after a couple of years the risk of disease is been reduced. After around 10 to 15 years your body is almost that of someone who has never smoked adding years to your life which goes to show that it’s never too late to quit smoking. Now you need to plan on how your going to quit smoking as I’m sure you want to after reading this.

**Prevent Heart Disease**

You should always keep in mind that whatever actions you do today can either help to prevent, delay or minimize the effect of heart disease or worsen it. The key is to control risk factors. Granted that you cannot control every risk factor for heart disease such as family history but you can definitely do something about your behavior. Age and gender also influence your risk of heart disease. Major Risk Factors of Heart Disease Cholesterol Levels Cholesterol is a type of a lipid, a soft, fatlike substance that serves as a source of fuel. Excessive cholesterol can cause buildup of atherosclerotic plaque. Accumulation of plaque in arteries can block blood flow and lead to a heart attack. LDL cholesterol, the so-called "bad" cholesterol, is transported to sites throughout the body, where it's used to repair cell membranes or to make hormones. LDL cholesterol can accumulate in the walls of your arteries. HDL cholesterol, the so-called "good" cholesterol, transports cholesterol to the liver, where it's altered and removed from the body. Blood Pressure Normal blood pressure level is defined as less than 130 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) for systolic blood pressure and less than 85 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure. The higher the blood pressure, the more likely it is to take a toll on the heart and on the brain. Blood pressure should be checked whether or not your levels are high. For normal, check once every two years. For high-normal, check once a year. If extremely high, you should get immediate care. Then get multiple measurements to know if a high level is sustained over time. Diabetes Another risk factor for heart disease is diabetes, a chronic disease of insulin deficiency or resistance. Type 2 diabetes, the most common type, is associated with obesity and may be prevented by maintaining ideal body weight through exercise and balanced nutrition. Tips For Controlling Risk of Heart Disease Stop Smoking The effect of smoking on your lungs can cause almost every other medical condition. Get Active Routine physical activity is highly recommended and helpful in controlling obesity. Try to perform 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. Fast walking is one of the best way to prevent heart disease. If you can lose even a small amount of weight, five pounds for example, it may have a positive effect on lipid levels and blood pressure preventing heart disease. Limit Alcohol Consumption Limit daily alcohol intake to three ounces or fewer to prevent heart disease. People who drink large amounts of alcohol (six to eight ounces a day) tend to have higher blood pressure. Watch What You Eat Eat five helpings of fruits and vegetables daily to prevent heart disease. Maintain adequate dietary potassium, calcium and magnesium intake. Reduce saturated fats and cholesterol to stay away from heart disease.
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** Heart Attack: Are You At Risk? **

If you’re male and you lead an inactive lifestyle you probably have at least 3 risk factors associated with heart disease. I know, I know, you feel fine but so do most people before they have a heart attack. Unfortunately, most people find out they have heart disease the day they are admitted in to hospital, and they are the lucky ones! Ladies, don’t think this is just something for men to worry about (as it has been in the past). Women, as well as men, are more likely to die of heart disease than of any type of cancer. This is because of our modern lifestyle. We are working longer hours, so we eat fast food, and there’s no time for exercise. To make matters worse, machines are taking the ‘work’ out of work. We are less active and it’s killing us! So what are the risk factors for heart disease? Firstly, there are two types of risk factors: those that can be changed, and those that can’t be changed. It’s important to know that you only need to have 3 of these to be at risk. Each extra risk factor that you have increases your chance of having a heart attack substantially. Risk factors that can’t be changed: Heredity: You are at greater risk if your parents, grandparents, brothers, or sisters, have heart disease. Gender: Men are at greater risk than women, though the risk for women increases after menopause. Age: As you increase in age, so do your chances of having a heart attack. Once you reach 40 you should have regular check-ups. Risk factors that can be changed: Smoking: A smoker is twice as likely than a non-smoker to have a heart attack. It not only places extra strain on the heart and lungs but also makes blood cholesterol stickier, making it easier to block arteries. High Blood Cholesterol: Cholesterol is produced naturally by the body and is essential to our health. The problem comes when we consume too much in our diet. High Blood Pressure: Just like with high cholesterol there are no early symptoms. The first most people learn they have this is when it’s at a dangerous level. Physical Inactivity: If you are inactive, you are more likely to have a heart attack. Even a 10 minute walk each day can make all the difference. Obesity: If you are obese, you are placing your heart under a great deal of strain even at rest. I might be at risk, what should I do? If you think you could be at risk, the first thing you should do is visit your doctor. Secondly, you need to modify your lifestyle. Exercise for at least 10 minutes per day (30 minutes is better but anything is better than nothing!). You also need to eat foods that are low in fat. If you smoke you need to give up. Even if you don’t have many risk factors it’s a good idea to visit your doctor each year. Some risk factors can change within a short period of time and getting on to them early can make all the difference.