What is Coronary Heart Disease?

Suddenly, you are stopped by a slight discomfort in your chest. Then you feel as if a heavy object is pushed down on your chest causing tremendous pain that spreads through your left arm and up to your neck and jaw. The next moment, you start catching up on your breath. Your heartbeat becomes erratic, giving you a cold rush on your spine and a nauseous sensation in your stomach. You would want to puke. Oxygen supply rapidly drops and parts of your heart start to collapse. If you suffer this, hold on! Sit down! And stay calm! The killer heart attack could be at work. The next few minutes could be lethal. While there is time, call 911!

What you are suffering is called cardiac ischemia, a condition where the heart muscle or myocardium, receives insufficient blood flow. If the attack does not subside within the next 10 minutes, the oxygen deficit will likely become irreparable and the cardiac muscles will die. This is called myocardial infarction, but more popularly known us heart attack.

Coronary heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States. Heart attack, the notorious capital punisher of heart disease, strikes mostly in the morning, just after you wake up from sleep and usually without any warning.

Out of ten who suffer a heart attack, two would die before reaching help and five would die within an hour, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Every year, about 1.1 million Americans suffer a heart attack. One out of 25 who are lucky to survive a heart attack will die within the year. Men over 45 and women over 50 are likely candidates of a heart attack but it can also occur among young adults.

The heart is the center of the body’s circulatory system, explains the NHLBI. It is a pumping muscular organ that rhythmically squirts blood throughout the body via a network of blood vessels, including arteries, veins and capillaries.

The heart’s pumping tempo is powered by an electrical system to contract the walls of the heart ... so that each time the walls contract, blood is pumped and circulated into the body.

The blood that circulates the body brings oxygen and nutrients that are needed by the organs, tissues and every single cell to work normally. On the way back, the blood carries carbon dioxide to the lungs to be pumped out of the body.

Being the center of the body, and playing such a vital role to all body parts, a disease in the heart can cause all sorts of other diseases to other organs and parts of the body.

Coronary heart disease is triggered by an obstruction in one of the major arteries that supply blood to the heart. When too much build up of the fatty substance, called plaque, prevent blood flow into your heart, the heart will try to address the malfunction by taking lesser oxygen. Once this happens, cardiac ischemia or heart attack sets in.

At a glance, heart attack seems to be a treacherous killer, striking out of nowhere. But a closer look on the development of a coronary heart disease, leads one to understand that the plaque build up is actually a result of a person’s prolonged adherence to an unhealthy lifestyle. Essentially, coronary heart disease is a lifestyle disease.

While it is also true that coronary heart disease is genetic and metabolic, unhealthy diet and lack of regular exercise are two major environmental risk factors that make a genetically and metabolically predisposed person highly vulnerable to developing a coronary heart disease and, ultimately, a heart attack. Thus, when you observe the living habits of the people around us, it is easy to tell why heart disease is the Nos. 1 killer.

Several studies conducted on coronary heart disease all point out smoking as its leading cause. A cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, 43 of which are known to be carcinogenic, and 400 other toxins that are freely taken inside a smoker’s body and cause too many damaging effects such as increase of blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as excessive plaque build up in the arteries.

Cholesterol per se is not bad. It is a fatty substance that is present in the cell walls found almost everywhere in our body parts. Cholesterol helps the body manufacture hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help to burn fat. But too much cholesterol in the body can also have very harmful effects.

But we love to eat fatty foods and too lazy to go on a regular exercise. Knowingly and unknowingly, this decadent lifestyle increases the cholesterol level in our blood. Excess cholesterol partly makes up the plaque build up in the arteries. As oxygen supply decreases, the cholesterol plaques will explode forming blood clots that will entirely shutdown the artery.

High blood pressure or hypertension is also a major risk factor for coronary heart disease. Needless to say, this is another lifestyle-induced health problem. Need I say more?

America being the most obese country in the world is perfectly logical. It explains the fact that coronary heart disease is its No. 1 killer disease. Americans love to eat anything that comes in large and extra large sizes. Value for money, so to speak. And living in a fast-paced country, Americans become dependent with artificial and processed food that provide less or no nutrients at all but are densely packed with fattening substances and chemicals. The result is a bulging country. But obesity increases the risk of coronary heart disease and a host of other lifestyle-related diseases.

Coronary heart disease is unquestionably chronic and deadly. But the other side of heart disease details a very simple fact. It is preventable. The rest factors are so easy to spot. Now you know very well if you are a candidate of a heart attack. Yes, it can be avoided. And all it takes is a strong personal will and a great love and respect for one’s and only one life.

Coronary heart disease is unquestionably chronic and deadly. But the other side of heart disease details a very simple fact. It is preventable. If you have a healthy heart, you are lucky and keep it that way. But if your heart has been missing some beats lately... when it feels like quivering or stops pumping ... be warned and seek medical advice as soon as possible.

The best way to take care of your heart, and preventing coronary heart disease, is to let it do what it is designed to do. Keep it pumping. Keep ample supply of oxygen-rich blood to your arteries so that it can continue to power up your heart. Once the blood vessels are plugged ... that’s when the heart aches start. Here are some pretty obvious tips for taking of your heart:

• Don’t smoke... but if you do ... stop at once before it’s too late! According to studies, your chance of getting a heart attack will decrease within 48 hours if you decide to quit smoking, cold turkey, right now. The risk will drop by half within 1 year and will return to that of a non-smoker within 15 years.

• Keep your blood pressure at normal range ... exercise and eat heart-friendly foods. A blood pressure count that is at the level of or greater than 140 systolic over 90 diastolic is considered a high blood pressure. Blood pressure is a silent killer. In the long run, it will damage the heart, leading to heart attacks. Induce on a healthy diet, low on fat and salt. Read Here for Ten Foods that are Good for the Heart. A healthy diet, coupled with regular exercise, keeps your weight in check, helps you maintain a normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, thus effectively preventing heart disease and a number of other lifestyle-related diseases. Running, bicycling, swimming, aerobics, rowing and walking are top calorie-burning exercises and activities that are good for the heart. A word of caution, however: do not overtired your body with exercise ... the resulting stress is also bad for your heart.

• Drink moderate amount of red wine ... I say moderate because too much can also send your blood pressure up. Red wine is known for its anti-oxidant properties that can help prevent blood clots and plaque formation in the blood vessels. Yet, while inducing small quantities of red wine is good for the heart, too of much it can also cause the opposite. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends one to two drinks daily for men and one drink for women (one drink being 4 ounce of wine).

• Manage stress. Managing stress is not only good for your heart but also for your overall health. Studies found that environmental and psychosocial factors like job dissatisfaction, social isolation and personality problems to higher risk of heart disease. While there is not yet any scientific evidence proving stress reduction as a therapy for heart disease, it sure is an effective measure to prevent it. The internet is already littered with too much stuff about stress management I do not want to waste any more bandwidth discussing this subject. I would like, however to rekindle an old yet timeless teaching that is almost always forgotten in our busy and buzzing life: “Sow a thought, reap an attitude, sow an attitude, reap an action, sow an action, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny!” (Galatians 6:7-9). Indeed, every moment of our life is a process of creation ... we are always creating what we are to become in the next moment...and the next moment after that. This process starts with your thoughts and feelings. If you spend most of your day thinking about how miserable your life is and feeling so bad about it, you are creating batch after batch of miseries in your life. But if you live every single moment of your life thinking positively and feeling good and happy with what you are now and what you can be the next moment, you will not only live your life away from stress but you will be led and inspired to take actions that will let you live your life happily and abundantly.

Now you know very well the mystery of coronary heart disease. You know also if you are prone to the deadly heart attack. But as they say ... it is never too late to do something. Heart disease can be avoided. All it takes is a strong personal will and a great love and respect for one’s and only one life.

We have two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet and two kidneys — yet we can go on living with only one of each pair. We can lose half of our liver, lungs, intestines, blood ... and continue to be functional human beings. But we only have one heart and all the rest of our body and our entire life greatly depend on it. Don’t screw it up. Your life is over when it stops beating.