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Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Resource
Understanding the Causes of Heart Disease
Heart disease is not actually a single disease, but rather it is a complex of diseases of varied etiology. There are a number of different causes of heart disease, including for instance damage to the heart muscle or valves due to a congenital defect, as well as inflammation and damage associated with various viral, bacterial, fungal or parasitic diseases.
Rheumatic fever and syphilis are other ailments that are also considered as contributors to or causes of heart disease, as can genetic or autoimmune disorders in which cellular proteins in the heart muscle are deranged or which disrupt enzymes affecting cardiac function.
More About the Causes of Heart Disease
There are also a variety of other causes of heart disease, including: atherosclerosis, dermatomyositis, diabetes, Friedrichs ataxia, hemochromatosis, high cholesterol, hypertension, Kawasaki disease, menopause, Pagets disease of bone, physical inactivity, smoking, type 1 and 2 diabetes, and being underweight or overweight.
It is important to understand that the factors that are considered as being able to initiate a heart attack are really twofold, with one being the pathological buildup of abnormal plaque, in the arteries, plaque that gradually hardens through calcification. However this abnormal plaque should not be confused with the fatty streaks and thickening that is found in the arteries of both primitive and industrialized peoples throughout the world.
After all without this natural thickening the arteries would end up weakening in those areas as the body aged, and this would result in leading to aneurysms and ruptures. The other half involves the blood clot or thrombus that blocks blood flow to the heart or the brain. Inflammation is also able to cause blockages, and in fact, an entirely new view of coronary artery disease is that it is an inflammatory process which is characterized particularly by cycles of irritation, injury, healing and reinjury inside of the blood vessels.
It is very important and beneficial to understand the causes of heart disease because then you can try to prevent it as much as possible. Although heart disease is basically unavoidable, there are certain things that you can do to protect yourself against it as much as possible, namely eating a healthy and nutritious diet and making sure that you get plenty of physical activity.
By keeping yourself healthy, you will not only protect yourself against heart disease but from other ailments and health conditions as well, and so it is beneficial in many more ways than one.
Exercise can help heart disease by improving vascular function and the way the heart works. Another type of heart disease that can happen because of high cholesterol is clogged arteries that surround the heart. This medical treatment may include oxygen through a tube in the nose, oxygen through a face mask, nitroglycerin under the tongue, pain medicines, and aspirin. The most common symptoms of heart disease include a heaviness or pressure on the chest; dizziness; nausea; shortness of breath; back or shoulder pain; irregular or fast heartbeats; and excessive heart palpitations. |
