If you or someone you love has heart disease you may be wondering what causes heart disease. There are actually several things that can cause it and one size doesn’t fit all. This guide will go over the several types of things that can cause heart disease and what you should do to counter them.
Disease
The first thing on our list of things that cause heart disease is disease itself. Many times when you get some sort of virus, such as rheumatic fever, the virus attacks the tissue in the heart and other parts of the body in order to cause fatal breakdown of the body. Viruses see it as war and attacking your heart is a strategic move to bring down an animal. In the case of rheumatic fever, the disease works by destroying a specific lining in the heart that controls certain heart valves which control blood flow. When this happens, blood spills out into certain areas of the heart where it doesn’t belong. There’s not much you can do about this yourself so you’ll need to see a doctor and hopefully he’ll be able to do something to fix the problem. Surgery may be able to correct the problem by stitching up the part of the heart that has come loose.Parasites
Parasites are another thing that can damage the heart. Parasites seek out hosts in order to mooch off of in order to survive and reproduce. Sometimes these parasites will seek out the heart, like in the case of heart worms, because the heart pumps blood throughout the rest of your entire body. Your heart is kind of the command center of the body’s trafficking system. These parasites can often cause damage to the heart which may lead to heart failure. If you go to a doctor to get checked out then they have certain medicines and treatment methods to flush the parasites out of your body. You’ll want to take care of this as soon as possible so that the parasite doesn’t get farther into your body, reproduce, or relocate to the brain.Exertion/Stress
Heart disease can also be caused by putting too much stress on your heart, especially if you have a pre-existing heart disorder or heart disease runs in your family. Sometimes by overexerting your body you can force the heart to work harder just to keep enough blood going through your body. A moderate level of exercise is always good but make sure you don’t overdo it. Also, make sure you’re not overindulging in fatty foods which can create blockage in the blood, raising your blood pressure and making the heart work twice as hard just to keep up.Malnutrition
Another cause of heart disease is eating wrong and not getting enough exercise. You often hear about all the problems with cholesterol but no one seems to be addressing exactly what cholesterol is. You see, cholesterol is needed to form new cells in the blood but your liver naturally makes all of the cholesterol you need to do that. Extra cholesterol comes from eating anything that came from an animal such as meat, dairy, and eggs. Too much cholesterol in the blood forms plaque on the arteries which can block blood flow, make you sick, and cause damage to the arteries. Think of it like your teeth. If you don’t take care of your teeth then plaque will form on your teeth and then turn into a hard tarter. If you don’t get the tarter removed then it will turn into cavities which is actually decaying tissue. Your teeth can be replaced but can you imagine what kind of trouble you’ll be in if your arteries started to decay? So try to stay away from too much cholesterol. Not only does cholesterol effect the heart but so does saturated fat which is why obese people tend to have more heart problems than fit people. When you eat food that has lots of saturated fat, you increase blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other problems related to the heart.Smoking and Heart Disease
Smoking can also effect the heart. Everyone knows that smoking increases your chances of getting lung cancer and other pulmonary diseases but few realize that smoking also breaks down vessels around the heart which the blood flows through. The American Heart Association says that over 400,000 Americans die every year due to heart problems and a lot of these deaths are because people smoke. By quitting smoking today you can greatly reduce your chances of getting heart disease later on in life.Heredity
Many times if you have someone in the family, such as a parent, grandparent, or even sometimes an aunt or uncle, your chances of getting heart disease is a lot higher. These types of things tend to run in the family which means that you should definitely take as many steps as you can to avoid heart disease. Start an exercise routine, eat healthier from now on, go to your doctor every four to six months for routine checkups, do whatever it takes to take care of your health. If you want to live a long, healthy life, I suggest you start caring more about your body than ever before and take as many precautions as you can to ensure you don’t drop dead by tomorrow morning. It’s not in the distant future that you’ll start seeing signs, it’s now. What you do today will effect you tomorrow. Always remember that.Lack of Exercise
People who don’t exercise that often don’t rid their bodies of the excess cholesterol, saturated fat, and other bad elements of the things that they put in their mouths. Studies have shown that moderate exercise will GREATLY reduce your chances of getting heart disease, other diseases, lose weight, and live longer. Those are all good things if you ask me. Sit down and make out a routine exercise schedule that you can actually stick to. That’s the number one reason people don’t stick to diets and exercise routines: They set goals and expectations that are too far out of their reach. They don’t understand that when you start up a new routine, you have to start slowly and work up to it. Take push-ups for instance, you start off with ten to twenty and then one to two days later you do the ten to twenty plus five more and keep that kind of bonus schedule going. Start small and every other day do a few more. Don’t give up. You can do it.Whatever the problem is, it’s not good if you have heart disease. Go to a doctor if you suspect a problem and he or she will be able to give you a more detailed analysis and treatment schedule. Your body is obviously extremely important and keeping it in good condition should be one of your top priorities. I hope you learned something from this guide but make sure you consult a doctor before taking any measures yourself to deal with any of these problems. Something you read on the Internet is no substitute for an educated professional.