What is a Heart Attack?
Heart Attack is the unavailability of oxygen to the heart muscles. That leads to irregularity in its pumping. So, then blood flow is affected. The heart cells will be deficient in oxygen that leads to their death.
Ultimately a Heart attack occurs. Its characterized by Chest pain that comes during walking and reduces at rest. Every year, two million people die around the world due to heart attacks.
What are Heart Attack Causes?
Muscles need an oxygen supply, during a heart attack they can't get enough oxygen. Fatty deposits, plaques develop in the walls of coronary arteries.
Vessels supply Oxygenated blood to the heart. Plaques grow as we age. Plaques grow chunky, hardened, or inflamed. Then these plaques turn into blockages.
If some plaques rupture or crack, a blood clot will form around it in minutes. So the partially closed vessels will become completely closed.
Blood flow is cut off to cardiac muscle and then oxygen-starved cells start dying within minutes, that's called Myocardial Infarction or Heart Attack.
They can rapidly deteriorate in the absence of treatment. The injured muscles don't pump blood as well and the rhythm is thrown off. In the worst case, a heart attack can lead to sudden death.
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How to Know Someone is Having a Heart Attack?
The most common symptom of a Heart attack is chest pain, caused by Oxygen deprived muscles. The patient describes this pain as crushing or vice tube. It can radiate to the left arm, jaw, back, or abdomen.
The heart attack is not always sudden or dramatic as it is in movies. Some experiences nausea and shortness of breath.
Maybe less prominent in women and elderly people, but for them, weakness and tiredness may be the main symptoms. In many people, especially with diabetes where it affects the nerves that carry pain, a heart attack may be silent.
If you think someone is having a heart attack, then most importantly respond quickly. So, if you have access to emergency medical services, call them. They are the fast way to get to the hospital.
Taking Aspirin as medication which thins the blood and nitroglycerin which opens up the artery can help to keep the heart attack from getting worse.
Doctors can diagnose a heart attack in an emergency room. Commonly uses ECG to measure heart electrical activity and blood rest to access the heart muscle damage.
Then the patient is taken to a high-tech cardiac suite where tests are done to locate the blockages.
Cardiologists can reopen the blocked artery by inflating it with a balloon on a procedure called Angioplasty. Frequently also inserts a metal or polymer stunt that with-hold the artery open.
The more extensive blockages in the coronary artery might require coronary artery bypass surgery. Using a piece of vein or artery from another part of the body, heart surgeons can reroute the blood flow around the blockage.
These different procedures reestablish circulation to the heart muscle restoring their function.
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5 Risk Factors of Heart Attack Causes
The 5 risk factors that are normally in the lifestyle of the majority of people are the risk factors of heart attack causes. All of these are explained below:
1) Lack of Sleep:
People having less sleep are less likely to have coronary diseases. The recommended sleep for everyone is at least 7 hours but ideally 8-9 hours daily.
2) Snoring:
Snoring might be a sign that at night you're unable to get enough oxygen. That stress is actually raising your blood pressure.
People who snore generally tend to be a little bit overweight, have higher blood pressure, which can indirectly be a risk factor for not only Atherosclerosis and heart diseases, but for atrial fibrillation.
It's not just the lack of oxygen, it's also the increased blood pressure, increased weight, so that all the factors work together.
3) Pregnancy:
Those are the percentage of women that, despite doing all of the right things, are at risk for what we call preeclampsia which is an elevation in your blood pressure. So, Preeclampsia is a normal process, when a pregnant woman's blood volume increases. Make sure you follow your blood pressure.
4) Being a Women:
Women are 10 times more likely to die of heart diseases than they are breast cancer, something I think a lot of people don't realize and it leads to problems because women are less likely when they have symptoms--Chest pain, shortness of breath-- they actually seek medical attention.
5) Social Isolation:
People tend to be more active when they are around other people. If you have a friend, go for a walk together and talk with him. Go for dinner or walk with your spouse.
Don't think it as a simple relationship but clearly, it's social isolation. As it has increased risk factors for not just heart diseases but for mortality overall.
Heart Attack Causes Prevention
The treatment of heart attack is advancing, but prevention is vital. Factors like genetics and lifestyle, both affect your riks. But there's good news that you can change your lifestyle.
Exercise a healthy diet and loss weight according to the BMI. All of these lower the risk of heart attacks.
Doctors recommend daily exercise a few times a week. Doing both aerobic activity and strength training. A heart-healthy diet is low in sugar and saturated fats, both are linked to heart disease.
A good diet and exercise plan can also keep your weight in a healthy range, lower your heart attack. Lots of fibers from vegetables, chicken, and fish instead of red meat, white grains and nuts like walnuts and almonds, all seem to be beneficial.
Medications can also help to prevent heart attacks. Doctors often prescribe low-dose aspirin to patients who already had a heart attack and for those known to be at high risk.
Drugs that help huge risk factors like high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes will make heart attack less likely too.
Heart attacks may be common, but things don't have to be inevitable. A healthy diet in which avoiding the use of tobacco, staying fit, and enjoying plenty of sleep and lots of laughter. All go a long way in making sure your body's most important muscles keeps on healthy.
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