Whew...we can all take a deep breath! Don't get us wrong we love the holidays, but talk about stressful...
- Shopping: wanting to purchase that perfect gift.
- Cooking and baking: wanting to make something extra delicious
- Working: trying to complete year end projects
When we think of stress we may not realize that this is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Let's take a moment here and categorize our risk factors:
The first group is Major Risk Factors that cannot be changed. For example; increasing age, male sex (gender), and hereditary. These risk factors are the ones that you are born with and can't be changed or altered. The more risk factors that you have, the greater your chance of developing heart disease. Since you cannot do anything about these risk factors, it's even more important to manage the ones that you can change.
Next we have Major Risk Factors that you can modify, treat or control by changing lifestyles or taking medication. Here we have a familiar list:
- Tobacco use: a smoker's risk of developing coronary artery disease (CAD) is 2-4 times that of non-smokers.
- High blood cholesterol: as blood cholesterol rises, so does your risk for CAD. Know your numbers! Total cholesterol less than 200 mg/dl. LDL (bad) cholesterol <100 mg/dl (high risk for CAD) and <160mg/dl (low risk for CAD). Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dl.
- High blood pressure: high blood pressure increases the hearts workload, causing the heart to thicken and become stiffer over time.
- Physical inactivity: regular moderate to vigorous activity helps prevent heart and blood vessel disease.
- Obesity and overweight: people who have excess body fat especially around the waist are more likely to develop heart disease. Excess weigh also increases the hearts workload.
- Diabetes Mellitus: Diabetes seriously increases your risk of developing heart disease.
And finally we have Other Factors that Contribute to Heart Disease:
- Alcohol: drinking to much alcohol can raise blood pressure, cause heart failure &/or stroke.
- Diet and Nutrition: a healthy diet is one of the best weapons you have to fight against heart disease.
- Stress: our individual response to stress can contribute greatly to heart disease and stroke.
A New Year is not only time for resolution but a time of reflection. “School” yourselves on what your risks are. Take notice of what you eat, how active you are and what your bad habits are. Then take some time and think about how you can make small changes that can impact your life forever.
Bless you in 2012 and we wish you all Health and Happiness.
Karen and Renne
Submitted by Karen Callahan, RN, and Renne Pfister, RN, Chest Pain Center Coordinators at Franciscan St. Margaret Health.
The Chest Pain Centers at both St. Margaret Health's Hammond and Dyer campuses were the first accredited centers in Northwest Indiana and only two of 27 in the state. Accreditation by the Society of Chest Pain Centers means that you can be confident that our Emergency and Cardiac departments have the right specialists, processes and equipment in place to provide the highest level of care for patients experiencing chest pain. Learn more +
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