Türkçe
40% of deaths around the world are due to cardiovascular diseases whereas 300.000 people have heart attack and 100.000 people die because of it every hear in Turkey.
In order to benefit from early diagnosis, treatment and have a life with healthy body, routine cardiac check-ups should be done starting from early ages.
Our heart is a pump with a special muscle structure which runs without stopping from the birth on, beats 100.000 times and circulates 7-8 litres blood in the lungs and in the body every day. Heart is our main organ that is fed by 4 gaps consisting of ventricle and auricle, muscle, valves and a special vascular system called coronary arteries. In order to protect our heart from dangerous situations, we should avoid the following risk factors leading to hardening, constriction or obstruction
HYPERTENSION
HYPERLIPIDEMIA
DIABETES
OBESITY
SMOKING
and STRESS.
Hypertension
The condition where the cystolic blood pressure is above 130 mmHg and the diastolic blood pressure is above 85 mmHg is accepted as hypertension. Due to permanent blood our heart works more and being under force starts affecting the circulation after a while.
Hypertension sometimes progresses hiddenly and therefore, it sometimes may cause serious organ damages without giving any symptoms.
The most common signs are
– Headache
– Vertigo
– Chest pain
– Palpitation
– Visual impairment
– Shortness of breath
– Getting tired very quickly
– Nasal bleeding
– Blood in urine
The treatment of hypertension includes some general precautions like diet, exercise, smoking cessation and regular drug treatment and physician control after diagnosis. It should be kept in mind that hypertension is a chronical disease.
Hyperlipidemia
Cholesterol is a subtance present in human blood which is produced in the liver and used in the formation of cellular membranes and some hormones. It is mainly produced in the body and some of it is taken through foods. Furthermore, the cholesterol level in our blood may increase depending on several factors being present at the same time. These are smoking, alcohol, age, genetics, lack of exercise, renal diseases and excess consumption of food with animal origin. High cholesterol and formation of atherosclerotic plaques lead to hardening and constriction of vessels. It sometimes may result in obstruction and cause hypertension, myocardial infarctus, brain obstruction, renal disease, difficulty in walking.
To reduce the cholesterol level, vitamin B12, B6, folic acid intake, consumption of fruits and vegetables, exercise and reducing the consumption of foods with animal origin are required.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a metabolic diseases related to mainly carbohydrates and protein and fat metabolism which results in increase of blood glucose.
Diabetes mellitus is a condition where the pancreas does not produce sufficient amount of insulin. Insulin is a hormone responsible for maintaining the glucose in the blood at a normal level.
DM Type 2 is a disease which harms all organs starting with cardiac vessels, kidneys, eyes by increasing the weight and leading to hardening of vessels.
Our heart and stress
Stress is a reality of our lives. Everybody is exposed to stress from time to time during the course of life. The effects of stress are due to epinephrine (adrenaline) hormone that speeds the heart rate and increases the blood pressure.
Its short-term effects are anger, pessimism, dysmnesia and distractibility
Its long-term effects are cardiac disease, depression, phobias, personality change, sleep disorders.
The easiest way to overcome stress is doing regular exercise. Exercise provides improvement in cardiac disease risk factors like overweight, high blood pressure, fat and sugar level increases in the blood, anxiety feeling. Exercise is a natural anti-depressant. Exercise is an important factor for a PATIENT WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE to decrease the risk.
Heart friendly exercise
Exercise is a part of life and base of having a healthy life.
According to one statement of Hippocrates from 400 B.C.E, “Whoever walks long lives long”. Otherwise sedentary life style leads to onset of diseases like cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, obesity and diabetes. In Turkey, 23%, 22% and 55% of men have sufficient, middle and low level of physical activity respectively whereas 13%, 18% and 69% of women have sufficient, middle and low level of physical activity respectively. Therefore, everybody is recommended to do exercise and protect cardiac health.
People doing regular exercise are generally more energetic, strong and flexible. They feel much better. In time, regular exercise decreases the heart rate while resting and a lower heart rate makes exercise workouts possible. It reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases. It also provides improvement in joint functions.
Heart and Nutrition
We should be careful about our nutritional habits in order to have a healthy heart. There is no limit in the variety of food we can consume. However, we need to pay attention to food products that we should prefer and avoid.
Foods we should prefer: Chicken without skin, turkey and fish, low fat milk, low fat yoghurt without cream, fat free cheese, egg white, sunflower oil, olive, sesame, soy and maize oil. Bread, fat free crisp bread, cereals, pasta, noodle, legumes and boiled potatoes. All fresh dried and fried vegetables and fruits, vegetables, fruit juices, fat free pop corn.
Foods we should avoid: Fatty meat, offal, salami, sausage, crustaceans, whole milk, cream, cream cheese and similar whole fat cheeses, mayonnaise, egg yolk, animal oils, butter, scones and pastry, cakes, crisp breads produced with saturated fat, pastry with egg and cream, ice cream, chocolate, potato chips, pop corn with butter, ready cakes.
