6 Lifestyle-Related Risk Factors for Heart Disease
Heart disease is not sparing anyone even young people in their productive years of life are succumbing to heart attacks. Though there are many risk factors for heart disease – the following 6 lifestyle-related risk factors for heart disease are prominent.
High-pressure Lifestyle
A hectic lifestyle or mismanaged lifestyle or busy and hectic work leads to stress. For instance: performance-related anxiety, reaching office on time, late-night office work, job insecurity, financial insecurity, premiums and EMI payments on time and excessive thinking; pressure to meet the compounding expenditure of maintaining a posh lifestyle, insecure relationships; the pressure to perform on the professional front; and so on is taking a toll on youngsters’ health and well-being. It is a major wake-up call for all lifestyle-related major health issues – such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart diseases. Stress levels among youngsters are increasing day by day and leading to anxiety disorders and eventually to depression.
A hectic lifestyle is leading to unhealthy or lack of quality and consistent sleep; lack of positive focus on spiritual matters, restless mind, lack of physical activity; overconsumption of refined and processed foods; excess use of alcohol and OTC medicines. All these factors are leading to sudden heart attacks in youngsters.
Read More – “Why Indians are Dying Young Due to Heart Attacks”
Stress, Anxiety
Performance-related anxiety and stress are leading to busy and hectic works and mismanaged lifestyle. Increasing stress levels are leading to hypertension – which is a major risk factor for heart disease and heart attacks.
Sedentary Lifestyle
According to several studies, around 40% of coronary heart disease-related mortality is due to physical inactivity. A sedentary lifestyle is a major risk factor according to several studies. The more you sit throughout the day the greater is the risk for heart disease and heart attacks. According to a new study, people who sit for up to 10 or more hours a day are more likely to have heart attacks and stroke than those who sit for fewer than four to five hours per day.
Smoking
Many people are well aware that smoking causes lung cancer, but they don’t know that it also increases the risk of a heart attack. It is estimated that nearly about one in five deaths due to heart disease is directly related to smoking. People who smoke are three to four times more likely to get heart disease. People who get exposed to second-hand smoke are also at risk. Nicotine in cigarette smoke reduces oxygen to the heart and lungs and speeds up the heart rate. It also increases blood pressure, harms blood vessels, and makes blood clots more likely. All these factors can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Obesity
Obesity in young adults and middle-aged people contributes equally to the risk of heart disease. In both these cases, obesity increases the risk of getting heart disease by up to 50%. Even in the absence of high blood pressure and diabetes, obesity is a major risk factor for fatal heart attacks.
Diabetes
Diabetes silently fuels heart disease, heart failure, and cardiomyopathy. In the absence of other major factors for heart disease, diabetes alone shares the major risk of developing heart disease. However, in the presence of other risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and kidney disease, the risk of developing heart disease increases manifold.
In a nutshell, if you have diabetes, you may develop coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and heart failure.
Bottom Line
When you stop smoking, your odds of getting heart disease will reduce. Within one or two years of quitting smoking your risk of getting heart disease falls dramatically. Similarly, regular physical activities, a healthy diet, and weight management can also reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
To learn more about the other conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, leave a comment in the comment box below
