Guide To Heart Disease Prevention

Keep Cholesterol In Check

An individual can help stop the formation of heart disease if they keep their cholesterol in check and have it monitored often. Cholesterol is a substance an individual's body needs to insulate nerves, build new cells, and make hormones. However, all the cholesterol the body requires is made by the liver. Any cholesterol consumed in food like eggs, milk, and meat can cause too much cholesterol in the body. The kind of cholesterol that is implicated in the buildup of plaque in the blood vessels is referred to as low-density lipoprotein. However, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol assists with removing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol from the blood. When an individual has too much low-density lipoprotein in their blood, plaque can accumulate on the endothelial lining of the blood vessels. When this occurs, the patient develops cardiovascular disease. Plaque buildup in the blood vessels causes their ability to expand to become compromised. The vessels become too narrow and stiff to allow a sufficient amount of blood to flow through them. This process is not able to occur when an affected individual does not consistently consume foods with LDL cholesterol.

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Get Regular Exercise

One of the best ways an individual can help prevent heart disease is to get regular exercise. Exercise can enhance the function of an individual's cardiovascular system and heart through many mechanisms. Regular exercise helps patients achieve and maintain healthy body weight. Regular exercise helps condition blood vessels and amplifies their ability to dilate when needed. Blood vessels that restrict blood flow due to an inability to dilate can cause heart disease. Regardless of a patient's diabetes status, exercise has proven to help an individual manage their blood sugar easier. Because regular exercise conditions the blood vessels to better accommodate blood that is exerting more force on them, the individual's blood pressure decreases and is easier to manage. It takes regular exercise over time to achieve these preventative effects. However, patients who already have an existing blockage in their coronary arteries that supply heart tissues can prevent further complications by exercising regularly. This response occurs because the heart muscle adapts to the oxygen starvation in its tissues. Exercise causes further deprivation of oxygen in such tissues, which triggers the adaptive mechanisms of the heart.

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