Love Your Heart - Steps to Lower Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

When you think of having a healthy heart, you should think about the various ways to keep it that way. Keeping your heart healthy can be done any number of ways including exercising, eating a healthy diet and treating high blood pressure. The choices you make every day go a long way toward promoting good health for your heart and blood vessels. It is also important to pay attention to your body’s signs and symptoms.

According to Dr. Zuhair Yousif, Interventional Cardiologist at The City Hospital, DHCC, chest pain or palpitations and/or shortness of breath and dizziness can be signs that something is wrong.

Regular physical exams and adult health screening tests are an important part of preventive adult health care.Consult your physician to learn which screening tests you need and how often they need to be done. Early detection is often the key to successful treatment.

“Cardiovascular disease (your heart and blood vessels) is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. It also includes other preventable illnesses, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. Despite recent improvements with treating cardiovascular disease, death rates in the region are still high", says Dr. Zuhair.

There are a number of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease is strongly influenced by diet and physical activity levels that you have from childhood.

Dr. Zuhair highlights that “the risk among adults is determined by a variety of upstream factors such as food production and availability, access to safe environment that encourages physical activity and access to education”. Downstream behavioral issues such as diet and smoking also influence the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

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1. Smoking/tobacco use
2. Poor diet
3. High blood cholesterol
4. Overweight/obesity
5. Insufficient physical activity
6. High blood pressure
7. Diabetes
8. Psychological stress (linked to people’s ability to influence the potentially stressful environments in which they live)
9. Excess alcohol consumption

Addressing and modifying these risks, for example, by giving up tobacco and/or improving the diet, reducing cholesterol or blood pressure levels, can rapidly reduce the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Zuhair clears up a few facts and provides some useful simple steps for lowering your risk:

1. Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
2. Eat a heart-healthy diet; your daily diet should include high fiber foods and at least five servings of fruits and vegetables.
3. Learn how to control your diabetes if you have diabetes
4. Keep your cholesterol levels under the normal range
5. Take steps to maintain normal blood pressure
6. Stop smoking cigarettes and avoid passive smoke
7. Learn ways to reduce and manage your stress

Taking action, which impacts on the whole population most effectively, will reduce these risk factors. For all presumably healthy adults, a visit to your healthcare provider to learn about your individual risk for cardiovascular disease and steps you can take to decrease your risks is highly recommended. It is not only the responsibility of the healthcare professionals but each and every one of us. Stay well!

Dr. Zuhair Yousif, MRCPI, MSc, CSD
Cardiologist
The City Hospital
DHCC, Dubai
800 TheCity (843 2489) 04 435 9999