Heart disease, the types, symptoms and preventions

Greetings all and sundry here on this platform, I welcome you all once again to my blog, and today unlike as usual participating in the weekly challenge, in this article I will be sharing a science post where I will be talking about the heart disease, the types, symptoms and ways to prevent it. Without much ado, I would like to set the ball rolling.

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What is Heart Disease?

Heart disease as the name implies, is related to any problem that affects the normal function of the heart which includes, heart failure, coronary artery disease, and arrhythmia. There are several types of heart disease and they include the following.

Myocardial infarction: This disease is also known as a heart attack which involves the interruption of the blood flow to the heart. This means that the flow of blood to the heart is disturbed and with that, the heart muscle can be injured or damaged as a result. Blood clot, and or plaque is the most common cause of heart attack, and similarly, when spasm or a sudden narrowing in the artery occurs. The types of heart attacks include STEMI, NSTEMI, and Coronary artery spasms.

Coronary artery disease: This is the most common type of heart disease and it is also known as coronary heart disease. When the arteries responsible for the supply of blood to the heart become clogged with plaque then this disease tends to occur. When that happens, it causes the arteries to be hardened and narrowed thereby reducing the blood supply which tends to reduce the amount of nutrients and oxygen that the heart receives. This disease is termed as atherosclerosis when the build-up is a plaque.

Arrhythmia: This refers to an irregular heartbeat causing the heart to beat too slowly, or too quickly. This happens when there is a malfunction of the electrical impulses that coordinate the heartbeat. The various types we have include atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, premature contractions, and bradycardia. Lastly, let's look at heart failure.

Heart failure: This occurs when the heart is working but is not able to perform its function properly. It can be caused by arrhythmias, hypertension, and untreated coronary artery disease. Early treatment of heart failure is always the best way to prevent further complications of the disease.

Symptoms of Heart Diseases

The symptoms usually depend on the type of heart disease that an individual has. Generally, the following are some symptoms related to heart diseases; swelling due to fluid retention, difficulty breathing, angina or chest pain, lightheadedness, and fatigue.

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Causes and risk factors of Heart Diseases

The causes include; having a problem with the rhythm of the heart, damage to part or all of the heart, low oxygen supply to the heart, and malfunction of the blood vessels. The risk factors also include the following; age, smoking, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, high alcohol intake, dietary choices, leaky heart valves, overweight, and obesity.

Prevention of Heart Diseases
In order to prevent heart disease, the following measures should be taken into account, eating a balanced diet, avoiding smoking, exercising regularly, limiting or stopping the intake of alcohol, and maintaining a moderate body weight.

Thank you all for your time and attention to reading this post. See you again in my subsequent posts.

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