Modern medicine has found a number of effective measures to treat heart diseases including lifestyle improvements, taking drugs and undergoing surgery. Prevention is always better than cure and there are a number of ways you can keep the disease at bay.
A healthy lifestyle goes a long way to reduce the risk of contracting cardiac problems. It is important that you consume organic diet comprising vegetables and fruits. This together with exercises would help you to stay fit and healthy. Your cholesterol levels and blood pressure too would be under check. Though many people are genetically inclined towards heart diseases, with certain adjustments in lifestyle habits it can be avoided to a large extent.
Two of the most dangerous contributors to heart diseases are obesity and smoking. Both of these are known to increase blood pressure to high levels thereby exerting enormous strain on the heart. Smoking leads to the building up of fatty deposits in the arteries leading to circulation problems that affects the heart. Having excess weight also implies that you are not following a healthy diet and are missing out on important vitamins and mineral that are essential for the proper functioning of the heart. Quitting smoking as well as other unhealthy practices such as drinking is very helpful towards lowering the risk of contracting heart diseases.
If you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle,then pull out your running shoes and run for a cause-New York City Half-Marathon on August 16th 2009 while also helping Fresh Air Fund children.
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Canadians are consuming far more sodium than they need to and it could be putting a strain on their health, according to Statistics Canada.
The agency issued a report on sodium intake in April 2007, which found that most people in all age groups were overdoing it when it comes to salt.
In July 2009, a report released by World Action on Salt — a British-based group established in 2005 to help gradually reduce global salt intake — found that sodium levels in a selection of processed and fast foods tended to be higher in Canada than in other countries.
Sodium levels in selected products
per 100 g servingKellogg’s Bran Flakes
- Canada: 861 mg
- United States: 258 mg
Burger King onion rings
- Canada: 681 mg
- UK: 159 mg
KFC popcorn chicken
- Canada: 908 mg
- Malaysia: 560 mg
Source: World Action on Salt and Health
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Top Innovations in Medical Area by Time Magazine-
Half of all heart attacks in the U.S. occur in people with normal cholesterol levels. Baffled? So were doctors, until November. That’s when Dr. Paul Ridker at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital confirmed a separate, perhaps equally powerful, risk factor for heart disease: inflammation, the same culprit behind arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Smaller studies had hinted at the link in the past, but Ridker’s recent research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that when people with normal cholesterol and high levels of CRP — a protein marker for inflammation in the blood — took statins, their CRP levels plummeted and their heart attack risk fell 54%. Compare that to the 20% reduced risk in people who take statins to lower cholesterol alone. Doctors say cholesterol and fatty plaques are still the main indicators of heart disease, but inflammation may be just as important, playing a key role as a trigger: It increases the instability of plaques, making them more likely to rupture, block heart vessels and cause a heart attack.
