INTRODUCTION Heart Disease refers to several types of heart conditions. According to World Health Organization or WHO, heart disease is the leading cause of death in United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia. In fact, about 600, 000 individuals in the US dies of heart disease every year and that is 1 in every 4 deaths. Heart disease is among the most widespread and costly health problems facing today’s nation. It accounts for more than $500 billion in health care costs in 2010 alone. It is also important to know that heart disease can be prevented and by knowing the risk factors that can heighten one’s chances of developing the disease it may be hindered. In this paper, I provide an overview of the function of the heart and the risk factors that can increase the chances of acquiring or worsen an existing condition that will affect our health severely. Finally, I review three medical conditions associated with heart disease, and conclude the importance of this topic with suggestions and recommendations about strategies to reduce the development or chances of acquiring heart problems and to keep a healthy heart to improve personal well-being. Risk factors are habits or conditions that increases an individual’s chances of developing a disease. It can also increase the ratio of an existing condition to get worse. Some of the risk factors for heart disease that can be prevented are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, poor eating habits
Tobacco use also increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, whether it being smoking or chewing tobacco. The risk is particularly higher if the person started smoking at a young age, smokes heavily and/or if the person is a woman. No matter how long that person has been smoking for, stopping can make a major difference when it comes to cardiovascular diseases. Physical inactivity is also a modifiable risk factor, obesity is a big problem in many countries and it increases the risk of heart diseases by 50%. Obesity also leads people to diabetes, which is also a risk. 31% or coronary heart diseases and 11% of the strokes worldwide are due to a high diet in fats, this is a big deal in certain countries because high diets in fats are seen everywhere. Another factor is being poor. It is normal that low income will make people's lives lean towards a stressful one, one where there is social anxiety, isolation and depression, which are all reasons why a person can get cardiovascular diseases. When someone abuses alcohol, drinking more than two drinks a day, it increases their risks as well. There are a few other modifiable risk factors, such as taking certain medications.
Heart disease has both preventable and non-preventable risk factors that contribute to its development. All of the following are lifestyle risk factors for heart disease EXCEPT:
“The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving is a short story written during the Romantic period. Tom Walker is a greedy old man with a greedy old wife that meets the Devil. While walking in the woods, Tom makes a deal with the Devil to gain riches. This story highlights many characteristics of many stories also written during this period of literature. Characteristics like nature and spirituality are shown the most throughout the story.
Cardiovascular disease is a substantial concern and has emerged as one of the leading health issues. In examining cardiovascular disease, its incidence is astounding. Each year approximately one million men and women die, averaging one death every thirty three seconds (Heart, 2013).The death rate for cardiovascular issues such as myocardial infarction and CHF claim more lives than cancer and Aids combined. Heart disease will be the number one cause of death by the
Created to promote tribal authority, revitalize native languages and sustain native cultures, Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) are a cornerstone in American higher education. With thirty-seven institutions that serve over 28,000 American Indian and Alaska Native students, TCUs seek to align their respective missions with community and tribal values (American Indian College Fund). Despite TCUs ambitions to sustain native culture and provide quality education for their populations, these institutions face innumerable challenges due to underfunding and a lack of intentional investment from U.S. governing bodies. Federal support for TCUs has been dreadfully insufficient in keeping up with the rapid expansion of these establishments, while poverty in Native communities greatly limits the amounts of tuition that can be collected; moreover, sustaining the will to endure in the face of structural inequalities is yet another barricade that TCU stakeholders face.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most common cause of mortality worldwide, especially in developed countries. But they are also largely preventable, and many studies have tried to clarify the related risk factors, and what could be done to avoid them.
5. Heart Disease and Stroke- Through prevention, discovery and treatment of risk factors for heart disease increases cardiovascular health and improve the quality of life. Risk factors leading to heart disease and strokes are changes in the heart and blood vessels. Education in healthy foods, diets and exercise can decrease a potential heart attack or stroke. (Healthy People, n.d.).
There are multiple factors that lead to the development cardiovascular disease. While some individuals are born with conditions that predispose them to strokes or heart disease, a majority of people participate in a combination of risk factors that lead to the development of cardiovascular disease. A few of those risk factors include a lack of physical activity, smoking, and poor diet. The more frequently individuals expose themselves to these risk factors the higher their chances of developing cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease has reportedly been the number one disease killer for men and women in the United States of America. Every one out of four deaths is caused by heart disease in the United States alone (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention). Heart disease refers to the different types of conditions and symptoms that can affect the one’s heart and its functions to the body (Mayo Clinic). Cardiovascular/Heart disease has many causes and conditions, prevention methods and symptoms, and treatment options.
According to the WHO, cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death globally claiming 17 million lives a year, more deaths than all cancer combined (Chiu and Radisic, 2013). Cardiovascular disease is responsible for a preponderance of health problems and its impact is expected to grow further as the population ages. In the UK, NHS spends about £7.74 billion as the expenditure to deal with cardiovascular diseases (Barton et al., 2011). Cardiovascular disease in the form of myocardial infarction has become the principle cause of death in developed countries, accounting for nearly 40% of all deaths (http://www.bhf.org.uk/). Congenital heart defects, which occur in nearly 14 of every 1000 new-born children, is another tragic fact that baffles medical industry (http://www.heart.org/). About 61 million Americans (almost one-fourth of the population) live with cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease, congenital cardiovascular defects, and congestive heart failure.
There are eight major contributors that result in heart disease: heredity, smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol (LDL), physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes, and arterial inflammation. The remaining seven contributors can be controlled, or at least reduced to safer levels that will help prevent or even reverse the disease, prevent a heart attack, and prolong one’s life.
The most common, and most preventable, heart disease of all is coronary artery disease. This is caused when blockages develop in the blood vessels
In most cultures, the term gender is associated with social roles and labor tasks and is usually determined by biological sex. To be male or female is a pre-constructed identity which locks people into roles and behaviors and penalizes deviation (*). If a person identifies themselves as a man, they are expected to perform the role as the strong, independent and hardworking man. If a person identifies themselves as a woman, they are expected to be beautiful, nurturing, passive and dependent on other people. These identities of male and female creates a strong divide between people and produces a hierarchal society. These ideas of masculinity ultimately portray dominance and power over women which further encourages hegemonic masculinity that is already present in contemporary social structures. This idea of masculinity is highly evident in social structures such as education, workplace, military and various forms of media. Through generating these notions of masculinity, it will continue to place women in subordination.
As the population ages heart failure is expected to increase exceptionally. About twenty-two percent of men and forty-four percent of women will develop heart failure within six years of having a heart attack. “Thirty years ago patients would have died from their heart attacks!” (Couzens)
It is commonly known that living a lifestyle with bad eating habits and lack of physical activity will eventually lead to an unhealthy heart. Other known causes aside from obesity may include, increased alcohol consumption, and smoking. These lead to the arteries in the heart to produce plaque which will stick to the walls of the arteries, and prevent a healthy blood flow to the brain and the rest of the body. According to Dhungana and Bista, roughly about 22% of people who are ages 18 years and over and is responsible for an estimated 9.4 million deaths per year globally (Dhungana, Bista, et al. 2016). The increase in high blood pressure in younger ages are increasing the rates of hypertension and risk of cardiovascular disease.