Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in our society. There are hereditary factors that contribute to the risk of developing certain diseases, including heart disease. You cannot change your family history or the genes you inherit, but you can control and change your lifestyle and health habits.
Know Your Family History
You should know health information about your close relatives, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings. Family history is one of the most important risk factors for health issues like heart disease, as family members share genes, environment, lifestyles and habits. Family history sheds light on both the person's genes and other shared risk factors. Having a family member with a certain disease does not mean you will develop that same disease, it just suggests that you are at higher risk and should adopt healthy lifestyle habits to reduce your risk.
Share Your Family History
Make sure that other close relatives know the family history so they can use it to their advantage as well. Provide the family history to your doctor, to help him make a proper assessment. It will help your doctor to know what you need to be tested and screened for, at what age and how often. Knowing your family history will also help your doctor ask you the right questions and make suggestions to you regarding your health, lifestyle and habits.
Know the Risk Factors
Risk factors for heart disease include: family history of heart disease; obesity; high cholesterol; high triglycerides; high stress; sedentary lifestyle; smoking; excessive alcohol use; type 2 diabetes; and high blood pressure. Many people think they have "bad genes" because of their family history. There are no good or bad genes; it is the interaction of genes with the environment and behavioral risk factors that matter most, and these are things that can be changed. The best strategy for preserving your health is to reduce risky behavior like smoking, and increase healthy behavior like exercising.
Know Deal with the Risk Factors
If you know you are at risk for a certain disease like heart disease you can take positive steps to prevent it or delay its onset. Most risk factors for heart disease revolve around weight, diet and exercise. If you are overweight, lose weight. This will involve changing your diet and exercising more. If you have high cholesterol changing your diet and exercising more will help control it as well. Diet and exercise are important for controlling or preventing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, two leading causes of heart disease. Other lifestyle changes are needed if you smoke, drink too much, or have too much stress your life. For any or all of these you may need some professional counseling or behavioral help, but unless you succeed in changing these habits you will not reduce your risk of heart disease and the family history may become your history.
Compelling Statistics
According to Dr. Emily Senay, recent studies have found that a person with both a first-degree and a second-degree relative that suffered from heart disease before age 60 is approximately 10 times more likely to suffer from heart disease early than someone with no heart disease in his family history.
According to Dr. Jill Pell, reporting in the "British Medical Journal," 14 percent of families have a history of heart disease; these families account for 72 percent of early deaths from heart disease; and, these families account for 48 percent of major coronary events. Pell also reports that "screening those close relatives and taking steps against risk factors such as high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure could prevent more than 80 percent of the early heart attacks that occur in Britain each year."
Tags: heart disease, family history, heart disease, blood pressure, close relatives