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Heart disease doesn’t dis-criminate, affecting men andwomen regardless of theirage or where they live. In theUnited States, cardiovascu-lar disease is the numberone cause of death, accordingto the American Heart As-sociation. North of the bor-der, one Canadian dies fromheart disease or stroke every7 minutes. So says the Heart& Stroke Foundation ofCanada, a charity that an-nually spends millions of dol-lars researching heart dis-ease and promoting healthi-er lifestyles.

For most men and women,the prevalence of heart dis-ease is no great surprise.Nearly every adult can pointto a loved one who has dealtwith heart disease. Manymen and women can evenpoint to a friend or familymember who lost their battlewith heart disease. That fa-miliarity should make peopleeven more willing to adopt aheart-healthy lifestyle, some-thing the AHA admits is thebest defense against heartdisease and stroke. Thoughnot all risk factors for heartdisease can be controlled,there are ways to reduce thatrisk considerably.

Control your blood pressure

High blood pressure is thenumber one risk factor forstroke and a major risk forheart disease. Blood pres-sure measures the pressureor force of blood against thewalls if your blood vessels,also known as arteries. Hav-ing your blood pressure tak-en is a routine on most doc-tor visits, but many peopleare unaware what the num-ber actually measures. Thetop number measures thepressure when the heart con-tracts and pushes blood out,while the bottom number isthe lowest pressure whenthe heart relaxes and beats.Blood pressure that is consis-tently above 140/90 is con-sidered high.A normal bloodpressure is one between120/80 and 129/84.

Because of the relation be-tween blood pressure andheart disease and stroke,men and women must takesteps to control their bloodpressure. Having your bloodpressure checked regularlyis a good start. Once you getchecked, reduce the amountof sodium in your diet, re-placing high-sodium snackswith healthier fare and mon-itoring sodium intake dur-ing the day. The Heart &Stroke Foundation recom-mends eating less than 2,300mg of sodium per day, andthat includes salt addedwhen making meals or eat-ing at the table.

Maintaining a healthybody weight and successful-ly managing stress are addi-tional ways to control bloodpressure.

Limit alcoholconsumption

The AHA notes that exces-sive consumption of alcoholcan contribute to high triglyc-erides, produce irregularheartbeats and eventuallylead to heart failure orstroke. There is some evi-dence that people who drinkmoderately have a lower riskof heart disease than non-drinkers. But it’s also impor-tant to note that people whodrink moderately also have alower risk of heart diseasethan people who drink exces-sively. So when it comes toalcohol, moderation reignssupreme. One or two stan-dard drinks per day isenough depending on gender.The Heart & Stroke Founda-tion suggests that womenwho drink should not drinkmore than nine drinks aweek, while men should notexceed 14 drinks in a singleweek.

Of course, if there are ex-tenuating circumstancesthen all bets are off. Men andwomen with liver disease,mental illness or a personalor family history of alcoholproblems should avoid alco-hol entirely. In addition, thosetaking certain medicationsshould avoid alcohol con-sumption as well. For the lat-ter group,discuss alcohol con-sumption with your physi-cian when he or she writesyou a prescription.

Quit smokingThe decision to smoke to-

bacco is the decision to invite

a host of potential physicalailments, not the least ofwhich is heart disease.Smok-ing contributes to the buildupof plaque in the arteries, in-creases the risk of blood clots,reduces the amount of oxy-gen in the blood and increas-es blood pressure.As if that’snot enough, smoking alsoharms those around you.Ac-cording to the American Can-cer Society, secondhandsmoke is responsible for3,400 lung cancer deathsamong nonsmokers in theUnited States each year. InCanada, nearly 8,000 non-smokers lose their lives eachyear from exposure to sec-ondhand smoke.

What might surprise somepeople, however, is howquickly quitting smoking canreduce a person’s risk forheart disease. According tothe Heart & Stroke Founda-tion, within 48 hours of quit-ting a person’s chances ofhaving heart disease have al-ready started to go down. Forthose who successfully avoidsmoking for one year, the riskof a suffering a smoking-re-

lated heart attack has beencut in half. After 15 years,the risk of heart attack is thesame as someone who neversmoked at all.

Embrace physical activity

People who are physicallyinactive are twice as likelyto be at risk for heart diseaseor stroke than people whoare physically active. TheAHA notes that research hasshown that getting at least30 minutes of physical activ-ity on five or more days ofthe week can help lowerblood pressure and lowercholesterol while helping tomaintain a healthy weight. Ifstarting from scratch, evenlight physical activity canprovide some health benefits.Gradually work your way upto more demanding activi-ties,and make physical activ-ity a routine part of your dai-ly life.

More information on heartdisease and stroke is avail-able online at www.heart.organd www.heartandstroke.ca.

Muskogee Phoenix Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012Living Well

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Limiting alcohol consumption to no more than one or two drinks per day is one wayto reduce risk for heart disease.

Reduce your heart disease riskThough chest pains can

certainly affect both menand women, they are mostcommonly associated withmen. And men are quick toassociate chest pains witha heart attack.

While it’s important notto overreact,it’s equallyimportant formen not tounder-reactwhen suffer-ing chestpains as well.In fact, con-sulting aphysician assoon as possi-ble is thesafest courseof action totake.

In themeantime, itdoesn’t hurtto educateyourself as towhat differ-ent types ofchest painmight indi-cate.

• Burningchest pain.Burningchest painsmight be apain in theneck (not tomention thechest), theyare often theresult of arespiratory of viral infec-tion, and not somethinglarger.

• Chest pain that gradu-ally worsens when eatingor exercising. This particu-lar type of pain is a warn-ing sign for heart disease,most notably angina. Angi-na occurs when not enoughblood can flow to the heartbecause blood vessels havenarrowed as a result ofhardened arteries. Imme-diately after feeling anypain of this sort, consult aphysician.

• Burning chest and ribpain soon accompanied bya rash. Shingles, a viral in-fection that eventually de-velops into blisters thatcan take several weeks toheal, can manifest itselfthrough burning chest andrib pain followed soon afterby a rash. While younger

men can get shingles, it’smost common in older menwith weak immune sys-tems.

• Chest pain accompa-nied by rapid shortness ofbreath. Shortness ofbreath, when it is accom-

panyingchest pain,is most like-ly a bloodclot in thelungsknown as apulmonaryembolism.The chestpain in thisinstancewill bedeep, andthe short-ness ofbreath willbe extremeand developquickly.Again, im-mediatelyconsult aphysicianwhen feel-ing anypain similarto this.

• Muscleor bonepain in thechest. Menwho recent-ly returnedto exerciseoften expe-rience mus-

cle or bone pain in theirchest. While it’s nothing toscoff at and should be re-ported to a physician, es-pecially if it’s persistent,it’s more than likely a sideeffect of your new lifestyle.

• Painful chest lump.This often occurs duringthe summer months orwhen a man returns from avacation in a tropical loca-tion. The pain occurs seem-ingly out of nowhere at thelower end of the sternumor breastbone. The “lump”is actually the cartilagi-nous end of the sternum,which projects forward abit and can become tenderwhen subjected to constantpressure, such as thatcaused by lying face-downon a beach for hours. Sen-sitivity should subside ina week if you avoid lyingon your stomach.

Understanding chest pains and what they mean

It might be a heart attack

While chest pains are al-ways indicative of a heartattack, that doesn’t meanthey’re not indicative of aheart attack. The followingsymptoms are possible sig-nals of a heart attack:

• chest pain that feels likea heavy weight has beenplaced on the chest

• pain that spreads fromthe chest to the back, neck,jaw, upper abdomen, or oneor both upper shoulders orarms (the left shoulder andarm are most common)

• dizziness or lighthead-edness

• changes in heartbeat,be it faster, slower and/or ir-regular

• nausea or vomitingFor men, it’s important to

know that any pain with re-spect to the chest shouldnot be taken lightly. If any ofthe above symptoms arenoticed, calmly report themto your physician immedi-ately and be mindful ofwhen they started and howoften they occurred.

Knowing how to react could save life