Measuring Your Risk: The main measures that indicate you have risk or have reduced risk are blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglycerideTriglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood – the body uses them for energy. However, high levels of triglycerides can raise the… levels, and homocysteineHomocysteine is an amino acid found in the blood. Elevated levels of homocysteine have been associated with narrowing and hardening of the arteries, an increased… level. Let’s look at each one separately.
1. Your blood pressure. This is measured as, for example, 120/76 mmHg. The top figure is the systolic blood pressure, the bottom figure the diastolic blood pressure. It’s the bottom figure—your diastolic blood pressure—that’s the most important figure. If your blood pressure is above 140/90, you have a much greater risk of heart disease. In fact, roughly every 10 point increase above 76 doubles your risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
2. Your cholesterol level. This is broken down into your total cholesterol, your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and your HDL (“good”) cholesterol. You want to have a low LDL cholesterolLDL is short for low density lipoprotein. It is the “bad cholesterol” which collects in the walls of blood vessels, causing blockages. High LDL levels… (ideally below 100 mg/dL), a high HDL cholesterolHDL is short for high density lipoprotein. It is the “good cholesterol” responsible for removing harmful cholesterol from the bloodstream. High HDL levels reduce the… (ideally above 60 mg/dL), and a total cholesterol of not less than 150 mg/dL and not more than 200 mg/dL. As a rough indicator, with every 50 point increase in your total cholesterol above 200mg/dL, you double your risk of death from cardiovascular disease. With every 50 mg/dL increase in LDL, you double your risk, and with every 20 mg/dL decrease in HDL below 60 mg/dL, you double your risk.
3. Your triglyceride level. This reflects the level of fats in your blood stream and is raised by eating high fatThere are many different types of fats; polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, hydrogenated, saturated and trans fat. The body requires good fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) in order to…/high sugar diets, or by excessive alcohol. Your trigylceride level should be below 89 mg/dL. As a rough indicator, every 50 mg/dL increase doubles your risk.
4. Your homocysteine level. This is measured in, for example, 6 mmol/l. You want to have a score below 6. As a rough indicator, with every 5 point increase above 6 mmol/l you double your risk of death from cardiovascular disease. There are other important measures such as your platelet adhesion index and your fibrinogen levels, which measure the stickiness of your blood; lipoprotein (a) level, which is a highly significant risk factor; and C-reactive proteinProteins are large molecules consisting of chains of amino acids. Proteins are essential nutrients for the human body – they are a building block of… level, which indicates inflammation in the arteries. Make sure that your doctor measures all of these important risk factors as well. How Good Are Heart Medications? There are several categories of heart medications, each designed to address one of the major categories I listed above. They include statin drugs, which are designed to lower LDL cholesterol; thiazides, which are diuretics designed to lower blood pressure; beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, calciumWhat it does: Promotes a healthy heart, clots blood, promotes healthy nerves, contracts muscles, improves skin, bone and dental health, relieves aching muscles and bones,… channel blockers, and nitrovasodilators, all of which are designed to lower blood pressure; and blood thinning drugs, such as warfarin (coumadin) and aspirin.
If you are currently taking heart medication, simply look at the details about your drug to find out which category it falls into. Then read below to learn a bit more about...
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