Your Heart Disease Risk

Heart Diseases Risk

High cholesterol, lifestyle choices, and other factors increase heart attack risk. Find out if you're likely to have a heart attack within the next 10 years.

Even though you don’t have a time machine, you do have the ability to calculate your 10-year heart disease risk. Decades of research have shown how heart disease risk factors such as high cholesterol and lifestyle choices like smoking cigarettes add up.

The greater your risk for heart disease within 10 years, the more aggressive you need to be with prevention. For example, the guidelines note that people who already have coronary heart disease or an equivalent health condition, such as diabetes, have a more than 20 percent risk of a heart event within 10 years. Add other risk factors, such as high cholesterol, advanced age, cigarette smoking, and a family history of early heart disease, and your total risk notches up.

The NCEP guidelines include charts that enable you to calculate a very specific risk score, based on your risk factors, age, and gender. For example, a 57-year-old man could use the charts to find out that he gets 7 points for age, 5 points for cholesterol over 280, 3 points for smoking cigarettes, and 1 point for his slightly high but treated high blood pressure. Adding them all together, he has 16 points, or a 25 percent risk of a heart disease event within ten years.

The same approach is applied to diet — using the diet appendix in the guidelines, you can give yourself points for the types of foods you eat regularly to find out whether you are eating a heart-healthy diet.

Once you have a good idea of your heart disease risk, you can make an informed decision about the steps you want to take to reduce that risk.
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“We want to match the intensity of treatment that we recommend to any patient with that patient’s level of risk,” says Daniel Levy, MD, director of the Framingham Heart Study and professor of medicine at Boston University in Boston. This is because the changes you may have to make all have some degree of risk and burden attached to them.

Calculate Your Heart Disease Risk

This is the information you need to calculate your risk:

* Your age. As you get older, your overall increase for heart disease and heart attack goes up. For men this means being over age 45 and for women, over 55.
* Cholesterol. You need to know about your total cholesterol as well as both the “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and the “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. If your LDL is too high or your HDL is too low (less than 40 mg/dL), you are at risk. Get a blood test to find out what your cholesterol levels are if you do not already know.
* Blood pressure. It should be 140/90 or lower. If you are taking medication to control blood pressure, you are still considered to be at risk even if your blood pressure is under control.
* Chronic diseases. There are other health conditions, such as diabetes, that are closely tied to heart disease risk.
* Family history. If you have close male relatives who had heart disease before age 55 or close female relatives with heart disease before age 65, you are at increased risk. However, Levy points out that many people do not know all the details of their family’s history with heart disease. Make the best guess you can if you don’t have someone to ask.
* Smoking cigarettes. Bad news for people who are smokers — this is a strong independent risk factor for heart disease.

Use this online risk calculator to get a better feel for where you stand when it comes to heart health. Of course, calculating heart disease risk is a more complex than simply using an online calculator, so check with your doctor to make sure you're taking all the steps you need to take.

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Does Daylight Saving Time Cause Heart Attacks?

Investigators reported an association between heart attacks (also called myocardial infarction) and switching to DST in the spring. Their report indicates that heart attacks among Swedish men and women increase by 5% during the first few weekdays after the clocks are advanced one hour in the spring for DST. This effect is partially reversed in the fall, when the incidence of heart attacks drops slightly after clocks are set back to standard time.

Does this mean that DST time is a public menace and should be abandoned? No. (As an Ohio farmer once explained to me, his corn crop really appreciates the extra hour of sunlight provided by DST - and it's hard to argue with logic like that.)

What this report actually means is that there is a link between sleep deprivation and cardiovascular problems. We've known about this link for a long time. But typically, sleep deprivation - an extremely common and almost "normal" phenomenon in modern society - occurs randomly among the population. In contrast, when we begin DST in the spring, we are systematically coordinating a night of sleep deprivation (and a few days of sleep-cycle readjustment) for a few billion people around the world simultaneously, which gives us an opportunity to observe and measure the effects of sleep deprivation across a large number of people. When we do so, we can see that sleep deprivation, in general, poses health risks.

So this study doesn't so much indicate that DST is a bad idea, but rather, points out that even a relatively minor sleep-disruptive event such as this one can have health consequences. What this study really means is that we should all pay more attention to our sleep cycles, do our best to get enough sleep, and try to avoid unnecessary disruptions in our sleep patterns.

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Some Facts about Cardiac Arrhythmias

What are Cardiac Arrhythmias?

Cardiac arrhythmias, also commonly called arrhythmias, are irregularities of the heart beat. For the most part, the normal, constant rhythm of the heartbeat that ensures essential blood flow throughout the body goes unnoticed.

But for some people, problems arise as the electrical impulses that synchronize the heart beat don’t function properly, causing the heart to beat out of rhythm - too quickly, too slowly or with an irregular pattern.

Arrhythmias are fairly common. Most people have had at least one experience where it feels as if the heart has skipped a beat, or has given an unexpected flutter. For many, the experience is usually not cause for concern. However, while many arrhythmias are harmless, some can be extremely dangerous and require medical treatment.

Help for Cardiac Arrhythmias:

If you have been diagnosed with an arrhythmia, treatment may or may not be necessary, depending on the cause, the severity and type of arrhythmia. For some people, arrhythmias are easily managed with a few lifestyle modifications and are little cause for concern. However, if your doctor suspects that the arrhythmia may cause serious symptoms, or that it may result in complications, medical treatment will be necessary.

By eating a heart-healthy diet, following a regular exercise plan, and reducing the intake of alcohol and caffeine, the occurrence of arrhythmias can be greatly reduced and prevented. If you do smoke, consider quitting smoking naturally, as tobacco is a known trigger of a number of health concerns related to the heart.

In addition, there are many natural herbal and homeopathic remedies available that can be successfully used as part of a holistic treatment program for optimal heart health

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The Zero Heart Attack Path (ZHAP) Diet

The ZHAP diet is a low fat diet plan aimed at lowering your cholesterol levels and reducing the risk of suffering from a heart ailment. The ZHAP diet is a new, specially designed low fat diet plan which tastes as good as your normal food and which you will be able to adhere to without any difficulty. It is low in substances that are bad for your health and rich in substances that will protect you against heart disease and other illnesses. These meals are meant not just for the person at risk; they are for the whole family. This has two obvious benefits: one, you need not cook two sets of meals; two, the persons at risk is not tempted by the food consumed by others.
Salient features of the ZHAP diet.

This is a purely vegetarian diet which includes vegetables, fruits, pulses, grains and non-fat dairy products. It excludes all kinds of oils, butter, cheese, ghee (clarified butter), processed foods and coconut. Of course it goes without saying that sweets, fried items and alcohol are not a part of it.

Contrary to what is usually believed, there is no significant loss of taste due to the lack of oils, coconut and butter. Seasoning of curries, dals and sambars is more a matter of habit and dispensing with it doesn't really affect the taste of the particular dish. Use of butter in soups can be avoided by pureeing the cooked vegetables and adding a little bit of skimmed milk to it. In salads, try to use low fat yoghurt, lemon juice and vinegar instead of salad oil. Breakfast items like dosas should be prepared in a non-stick pan, which requires very small quantities of oil. By following such general principles, you can suitably modify your own favorites recipes into low fat items.

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Eat Healthy After a Stroke

The key to your recovery after a stroke is choosing healthy foods. The key to your recovery after a stroke is choosing healthy foods. Healthy eating will be easier once you learn to deal with new eating challenges. Preventing another stroke and staying healthy can be achieved when you take appropriate steps to control your weight and blood pressure. Making healthy food choices is a major step in the right direction, and you can enhance the impact diet plays in your risk by meeting with a registered dietitian.

Points to remember:
1)Cut out fried or greasy foods. They contribute to clogged arteries and obesity.
2)Reducing your intake of butter, meat products (especially fatty meat), eggs, stick margarine, cheese and snack foods with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils or fats.
3)Eat smaller portions more often throughout the day. Having six small meals is better for your overall health especially after a stroke.
4)Eat foods that are easy to chew, taste, and swallow, and avoid others that are not.
5)Thicken liquids to make them easier to feel in your mouth and throat.
6)Eat foods that are not too hot or cold.
7)Plan to eat a variety of foods each day.
8)Eat your biggest meal early in the day when you have the most energy. The last meal of the day can be simple, such as a sandwich or cereal.
9)Attractive, tasty, pleasant-smelling foods may enhance appetite.

These important points can can save a person from a Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Sudden Cardiac Arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the United States with over 300,000 people experiencing it every year. Upon identifying the symptoms of cardiac arrests the using an AED Equipment within the first six minutes greatly increases the survival rate.

What is H1N1 FLU?

Swine influenza (also called H1N1 flu, swine flu) is caused by influenza type A virus, there are regular outbreaks among herds of pigs, where the disease causes high levels of illness. It is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because studies have shown that the genes in this new virus are quite similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs (swine).

Human infections with the new H1N1 virus are ongoing in the world. H1N1 virus is contagious and it spreads from human to human. Flu viruses spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching a surface or object with flu viruses on it. The symptoms are generally similar to seasonal human influenzas. The swine flu in humans is most contagious during the first five days of the illness.

Signs and symptoms of swine influenza in humans:
1 Body aches
2 Chills
3 Cough
4 Diarrhea (less common)
5 Headache
6 Sore throat
7 Temperature (fever)
8 Tiredness (fatigue)
9 Vomiting (less common

Recommendations to prevent your self from this virus:
1 Wash your hands frequently with soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
2 Stay away from other people who might be infected from H1N1 flu.
3 Avoid large gathering perhaps stay at home.
4 Try to stay healthy
5 Refrain your self from touching surfaces which may contain the virus like public telephone, restaurant, and tabletops and so on.
6 When you cough or sneeze cover your mouth with a tissue. If you do not have a tissue, cover your mouth and nose.
7 Drink plenty of boiled water.

If you are infected then limit your contact with other people. Please do not go to work. Keep all surfaces you have touched clean and follow your doctor's instructions.


Do you know around the world sudden cardiac arrest is the sole responsible reason for deaths of more than 100000 people each year. To insure the survival of the heart attack sufferer with in four minutes one needs to use automated external cardio defibrillators. This effective AED Equipments are designed to deliver an electric shock to a victim of sudden cardiac arrest.

Pop star Michael Jackson was Suffering from Lupus

In October 2007 Michael Jackson confirmed to foxnews that he was suffering from lupus. According to a heart specialist at AEDLIFEPOWER Lupus (pronounced as loo-pus) disease is an autoimmune disorder and it affects, skin, joints, kidneys, blood cells, heart, lungs and brain. Lupus is a disease that turns the body’s defenses against the body itself. Lupus occurs when antibodies attack the healthy cells in the body. So the body creates auto antibodies that attack the body’s own healthy cells. Certain drugs can cause Lupus as well. When antibodies attack body healthy cells that results in inflammation in arteries of the heart leading to the formation of a small flattened patch or deposit in the wall of an artery. This can result in cardiovascular disease and may lead to sudden cardiac arrest. The effects Lupus in heart can cause clotting and shortness of breath

Pop star Michael Jackson died of sudden cardiac arrest something more deadly than heart attack. Certain drugs can also cause cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac arrest is often caused due very rapid heart rhythm. The heart dies right away unless they’re shocked out of it with a defibrillator. Sometimes an adverse response to prescription drugs or illicit use of drugs can also cause arrhythmia leading to cardiac arrest.