Do You Have One of These Three Risk Factors for Heart Disease?

Healing Hearts Clinic Blog Do You Have One of These Three Risk Factors for Heart Disease?
Do You Have One of These Three Risk Factors for Heart Disease?

Nearly half of people in the United States — 47%, to be exact — have at least one of the three biggest risk factors for heart disease. If you consider that heart disease is the leading cause of death in our country, this number is very alarming.

Do you know the three biggest risk factors for heart disease? Knowing this information could save your life. Here, the team of experienced cardiologists at Healing Hearts Clinic breaks down these risk factors so you can take steps to safeguard your heart health.

Healing Hearts Clinic offers leading-edge cardiology diagnostic and treatment services at three convenient offices in Conroe, Shenandoah, and Huntsville, Texas.

Here’s a look at what we mean by heart disease and the three biggest risk factors (hint: they are all factors you can do something about).

Defining heart disease

We use heart disease to describe severe conditions affecting your heart or blood vessels. The most common examples of heart disease are:

As you can see from this list, heart disease is not only serious but also life-threatening. Every 34 seconds in our country, someone loses their life to cardiovascular disease.

The big three

While many factors can contribute to heart disease, far and away, the three biggest include:

1. High blood pressure

Also called hypertension, this condition occurs when your blood places too much pressure on your arterial walls as it passes through. Hypertension can lead to atherosclerosis, which narrows your arteries, exacerbating the condition. Some of the possible complications of hypertension include stroke and heart attack.

2. High cholesterol

If you have elevated cholesterol levels (more specifically, LDL cholesterol) in your blood, this can lead to plaque buildup and atherosclerosis, which puts you at greater risk for heart attacks.

3. Smoking

When you smoke, you’re harming your cardiovascular health in a few ways. First, it damages your heart and blood vessels. Second, nicotine raises your blood pressure. Third, your blood doesn’t carry as much oxygen thanks to higher levels of carbon monoxide from smoking.

Improving your heart health is possible

Now, we want to point to another vital statistic — 90% of heart disease is preventable if you improve your diet, get some exercise, and quit smoking.

While the connection between the risk of smoking and quitting is pretty direct, diet and exercise are the key factors when it comes to high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. A diet that’s high in sugar, sodium, and unhealthy processed foods can lead to hypertension and cholesterol issues, as can a sedentary lifestyle.

Conversely, you can improve your blood pressure and cholesterol levels by exercising and eating a healthier diet. And, in improving those areas, you can reduce your risk of developing heart disease.

We know that quitting smoking, eating better, and exercising more are difficult tasks, but we’re here to help.

For an individualized heart disease prevention plan, book an appointment with the cardiovascular experts at Healing Hearts Clinic. Call the closest location or request an appointment online.