Every 34 seconds, someone dies from heart disease in the United States.
That makes 912,500 annual heart-disease related deaths in just one country.
Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans, according to the American Heart Association (AHA) Web site.
February is American Heart Month, where people pass along information about heart diseases and raise funding for research for prevention.
For many, heart disease hits close to home.
“My father had a pacemaker put in when he was 19, without it his heart would only have 30 pumps per minute," said freshman Elizabeth Glynn.
"He would be in a coma without it. It’s hard knowing that if the pacemaker fails that my dad could die.”
The causes for heart disease are mostly hereditary, often including heart attacks, diabetes, high or low blood pressure and even congenital heart defects.
Family history is also a large indicator about the likelihood of developing heart disease.
If heart disease is common on either one or both sides of the family, chances are higher that that person will have complications later on in life.
“I have a long history of heart problems in my family,” Junior Sadie Martin said, “so I try to watch my weight and eat healthy so that I don’t have worse problems when I get older.”
A healthy lifestyle will lower the risk of heart disease considerably.
Someone who is overweight has a higher risk even if there is no history or other risk factors.
“People don’t also think about complications of their lifestyle and don’t think ahead,” said Kelly Jirovec, director of health and wellness. “They need to know that what they do today can affect their tomorrow.”
A balanced diet, without much fat or salt will make blood clots, the causes for heart attacks, will also lower the risk of a heart disease.
Two other things that affect heart health for the negative are alcohol and smoking.
Smoking can cause coronary heart disease, which is a disease in the main artery from the heart. Smokers are two to three times more likely to die from this disease than nonsmokers, according to the AHA website.
Smoking and heart complications can also have different problems too.
“My grandpa had open heart surgery last year and he was a smoker,” Martin said. “It was scary watching him quit cold turkey before the surgery.”
Alcohol can raise the levels of fat within the body and increase blood pressure and calorie intake, thus making the risk of blood clots and cardiac arrest much higher.
Tomorrow is National Wear Red Day in support for all of the men and women who have gone through heart diseases and for the research that will save future lives.
Be the first to comment on this article!