Overview

Heart attack doesn’t happen just to older adults. It is happening to younger adults too. This is partly because the conditions that lead to heart attack are happening at younger ages. However, your risk increases as you get older.

To the surprise scientific evidence and various studies show that the prevalence of heart attacks among younger people has been increasing over the last few decades.

A heart attack usually occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the heart. Without blood, tissue loses oxygen and dies. The longer the heart goes without enough blood and oxygen, the greater the damage to the heart muscle. Hence heart attacks are medical emergencies and early treatment is critical.

Age increases your risk of heart attack

As your age increases, so does your risk of heart attack. This is caused due to physical changes in your cardiovascular system and your heart muscle. There are several other reasons that your heart changes as you age:

• Over time, fatty deposits can build up on the walls of your arteries.
• As you age, your arteries can become stiffer and harder.
• The walls of your heart might grow thicker as you get older.
• Your heart valves may work less effectively.
• Your heart’s electrical impulses may also change as you age.
• Sensitivity to sodium may increase and that can raise your blood pressure.

Younger people can have heart attack too

Heart attacks and the conditions that lead to it can happen at any age. High rates of obesity and high blood pressure among younger people (ages 35–64) are putting them at risk for heart attacks earlier in life.

Smoking and substance abuse are greater among young people and is linked to an increased risk of heart attack. However, they aren’t the sole cause or earlier heart attacks. It’s likely a combination of several other factors such as:

• Obesity
• Prediabetes
• Dyslipidemia, or atypical levels of lipids or fats in the blood, such as LDL cholesterol and triglycerides

There are some risk factors that can not be changed like family history, there are many other risk factors that you do have control over. These include:

• smoking
• having high cholesterol
• having high blood pressure
• lack of exercise
• being overweight or having obesity
• having high stress levels
• an unhealthy diet
• heavy alcohol consumption
• having poor sleep quality or sleep apnea

The bottom line

Although you can have a heart attack at any age, your heart attack risk does increase as you get older. Having a family history of heart disease and being male also increase your risk.

As said many other risk factors are within your control. It just depends on your lifestyle choices.

If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or other conditions that can increase your risk of a heart attack, talk with your cardiologist about the best course of treatment to help lower your risk of a heart attack.

Source/s:
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As you age, heart disease risks rises. But for a women symptoms can become more evident after the onset of menopause. Also making healthy choices during any decade of life increases the chances of staying healthy as you age.

QUICK FACT:
Menopause does not cause cardiovascular diseases in women. Actually certain risk factors increase around the time of menopause due to high-fat diet, smoking or any other unhealthy lifestyle habits.

Women who approach menopause need to really take stock of their health. More than one in three female adults has some form of cardiovascular disease. An overall increase in heart attacks among women is seen about 10 years after menopause.

Strive for Healthy Heart

Women in midlife transitioning to menopause may be able to lower their risk of developing heart disease and diabetes by exercising more or eating a lower calorie diet.

Eliminate all unhealthy habits like smoking which increase the risk of blood clots, decrease the flexibility of arteries and lower the levels of HDL cholesterol. Also smoking may contribute to early menopause.

American Heart Association recommends eating a dietary pattern that emphasizes:

• fruits, vegetables,
• whole grains,
• low-fat dairy products,
• poultry, fish and nuts,
• while limiting red meat and sugary foods and beverages.

Women with menopause should aim for at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week. Walking, cycling, dancing or swimming are some activities that use larger muscles at low resistance could be considered as some good aerobic exercises.

Wrapping Up…

Dr. Tejas Patel, Cardiologist in Ahmedabad, says “we often focus on researches on risk factors for heart diseases in older women and think they have the highest risks. But we should know that the risk factors are modifiable factors like physical activity, healthy lifestyle, low calorie diet, etc.”

So we could design preventive strategies for women of any age. Modifying diet and increasing exercise during midlife can help women ward off heart diseases.

Sugar is a number one public enemy in nutrition and diseases these days. We don’t actually need an extra sugar than what is found naturally in whole foods. So cutting back on all added sugar foods is not at all a bad idea.

Believe it or not, if you can’t take out all the added sugars, just by reducing the intake, you will see the benefits. You will also struggle a little, as sugar can truly mess with your brain and act like an addictive substance.

What is a healthy diet and how much should I eat? This is the dilemma of every person on diet. Eating healthy can be easy, tasty and inexpensive if you follow some basic guidelines.

Find out more about what it means to cut out added sugar, where do the come from and how can you avoid them and ways you or your client can make this diet change healthfully and with minimal suffering. Scroll to see the infographic.

Having trouble keeping up the energy post your workout? We can feel your dilemma and hence we came up with some tips to power up your energy so you can move more. See the infographic below for the power up tips.

Exercise is not the only way to keep yourself physically fit. Keep your daily physical activity with families entertaining and everyone will get a workout – without even realizing it.

These days school offers limited options of physical activities for your children. And evenings are mostly spent in doing homework and the video games for most. It is prime necessity to keep you child active.

Try these fun activities to keep your kids active:

Be complete silly
Walk like bear, run like gorilla and hop like rabbit. Let your children see how much fun you can have while being physically active.

Schedule a game time for entire family
Get the whole family involved in fun games like catch ball, rope jumping and tug of war.

Make chores a friendly challenge
Let the homely chores be a challenge for members. Set up a friendly challenge like who can collect most litter from the neighborhood or who picks up the most garbage from the garden.

Put your kids in charge
Ask your children to take a turn choosing physical activities for the day or weekend. This way you can find what your children like to do.

Organize an activity party
Rather than usual birthday party, try to organize a party that involves physical activity. Take your child to bowling, wall climbing or set up a relay race in the backyard.

Explore non-traditional sports
Instead of cricket, football and basket ball try activities such as badminton, dancing, martial arts or skating.

At last don’t forget to get yourself in the game. If you set the example, it’s more likely that everyone else will follow you and join you.

Imagine if you could relax, feel better and be more productive, by doing something in only 2 minutes.

May be it’s 1 PM or 5 PM, you’re feeling stiff, tired and a bit sluggish in your office. We have this amazing video tutorial from Judi Bar, a certified Yoga Therapist at Cleveland Clinic. She demonstrates 2 minutes of simple stretches you can do right in your chair.

These activities combine deep breathing and some muscle movements to help lose them. Habit of doing these stretches has even more benefits like managing stress and lowering blood pressure.

How many of you rely on fresh and green vegetables? Most of you would be relying on spinach, carrots, broccoli, etc. for a healthy lifestyle. But there are some veggies that are still uncaptured from your health radar.
Here’re 6 most underrated vegetables suggested by renowned dietitians around the world.

“Artichokes are a versatile veggie — you can eat the hearts as well as the leaves.” Kate Patton, MEd, RD, CSSD, LD.

“Broccoli rabe is extremely nutritious, loaded with iron, calcium, zinc, vitamins A, C and K. Like other cruciferous veggies, it contains potentially cancer-fighting glucosinolates.” Brigid Titgemeier, MS, RDN, LD.

“Properly prepared Brussels sprouts are a tremendous addition to your veggie options. They’re a great source of vitamins C and K, and provide fiber, too.” Laura Jeffers, MEd, RD, LD.

“Don’t be fooled by its pale color — cauliflower is packed with nutrients. Like other cruciferous veggies (Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, bok choy and broccoli), it’s rich in glucosinolates. Glucosinolates are being studied for their anti-cancer properties.” Anna Taylor, MS, RD, LD, RD, LD.

(5) Cucumber

“Cucumber may not be as dense in nutrients as other veggies, but considering it has only 16 calories and 4 grams of carb per cup, it packs a punch. They are a good source of vitamin K, potassium, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, copper and manganese.” Julia Zumpano, RD, LD.

“People don’t always know what to do with watercress, but this cruciferous veggie packs a serious punch. Researchers are studying its potential in reducing smoking carcinogens, turning off breast cancer signals and alleviating physical stress from workouts.” Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, LD.

Intermittent Fasting involves alternating cycles of fasting and eating.
“Fasting” may make you think of “starving.” But intermittent fasting is more about cutting way back on calories for short time periods. Doing so seems to affect your hunger and cravings over time.

We’ve already learned about the “Intermittent Fasting” above. But beware don’t be fooled by certain myths. So, what are they?

Myth 1 & Fact:

Myth 2 & Fact:

Myth 3 & Fact:

Article By: Dr Tejas V Patel
Interventional Cardiologist, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Yes, definitely. One should be very much worried about their waist size or the growing waist size. It can lead to a heart disease directly or indirectly.