yourheartguide.com

	Heart-attack & strokes
	Hypertension & Effect
	Cholesterol & Effect
	Stress & your Heart
	Major Risk Factors
	Heart Recovery

Heart Attacks and Strokes
A heart attack occurs when the supply of blood and oxygen to an area of heart muscle is blocked, usually by a clot in a coronary artery. Often, this blockage leads to arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat or rhythm) that cause a severe decrease in the pumping function of the heart and may bring about sudden death. If the blockage is not treated within a few hours, the affected heart muscle will die and be replaced by scar tissue.
How does an arterial-blockage occur?
It occurs as a result of a combination of things. It occurs as a result of a combination of things.
Over time, the wall of our artery becomes diseased or "corroded" As our blood passes through this corroded section, it dumps some of the fat which it is carrying, and this fat forms a bulge in the wall of the artery. Result? In the same way that double-parking narrows a road and causes a slow down in the flow of traffic, this fatty bulge narrows the width of the artery and slows down the flow of blood as it passes around it. If the blood flow gets too slow, and if tiny bits break off the bulge in the wall "clogging up the blood even more" the blood will form a spontaneous clot, completely blocking the artery.
Causes and risk-factors of heart attacks & strokes
Things we can't change Certain factors increase the risk of a heart attack. Some can be changed, while others are inherited. The major factors individuals can't change include: age, gender and heredity. Age Four out of five deaths from the disease are in people over age 65. In this age group, women are twice as likely to die from heart attacks as men. Gender Women are more likely to die from heart disease than from all forms of cancer, chronic lung disease, pneumonia, diabetes, accidents and AIDS combined. However, men have a greater life-long risk of heart attack, and experience attacks earlier in life. Heredity You're at greater risk if your parents had heart disease.
Things we can change
The major factors individuals can change include: smoking, high blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity and being overweight.
Smoking Smokers have twice as high a risk of heart attack as nonsmokers, and have two to four times the risk of sudden cardiac death. Smokers are also more likely to die quickly and suddenly than nonsmokers.
High blood pressure African-Americans have the highest death rates from the disease. This may be due to their higher rates of high blood pressure; about 1 in 3 black adults have high blood pressure, compared to about 1 in 4 white adults. High blood pressure is also generally more severe among elderly African-Americans than elderly whites, leading to more cases of strokes, heart disease and kidney failure.
Cholesterol and cholesterol levels Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in all parts of your body. It helps make cell membranes, some hormones, and vitamin D. Cholesterol comes from two sources: your body and the foods you eat.
Blood cholesterol is made in your liver. Your liver makes all the cholesterol your body needs. Dietary cholesterol comes from animal foods like meats, whole milk dairy foods, egg yolks, poultry and fish. Eating too much dietary cholesterol can make your blood cholesterol go up. Foods from plants, like vegetables, fruits, grains, and cereals, do not have any dietary cholesterol.
Heart attack outcomes
The outcome of a heart attack depends on several factors: Where the coronary blockage happens. Blockages on the left side of your heart are usually more dangerous. Whether rhythm is disturbed. If the blockage also causes an irregular heartbeat called an arrhythmia, it may cause sudden death. Either fast beating called tachycardia or rapid, uncoordinated contractions called ventricular fibrillation may happen. Ventricular fibrillation prevents blood flow, which must be quickly restored through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or electrical therapy (defibrillation). Whether your heart is supplied by another blood source. Sometimes a person's body responds to a gradual blocking of an artery by widening another vessel that supplies blood to that same part of the heart. This makes what is called a collateral blood source. If this is the case, you will have less severe damage from the major blockage. How soon you got help. In most cases, getting medical attention within an hour of the start of your attack reduces the amount of heart muscle you lose.
Left Ventricular Aneurysms
Sometimes after a heart attack, an aneurysm forms in the heart's main pumping chamber, called the left ventricle. If a section of the heart wall becomes damaged after a heart attack, it causes scarring and the heart wall grows thinner and weaker. This may cause a ventricular aneurysm to form. The weakened area of aneurysm does not work well, which makes your heart work harder to pump blood to the rest of your body. Ventricular aneurysms may cause shortness of breath, chest pain, or an irregular heart beat (arrhythmia). If a ventricular aneurysm leads to congestive heart failure, left ventricular heart failure, or arrhythmia, your doctor may want you to have surgery.