Medical professionals across the UK are recommending heart disease screening for all adults over the age of 55.
This type screening allows us to identify people who are heart healthy from people who have may have developed issues such as heart disease. It is a of course an absolute myth that you are healthy just because you do not have symptoms.
It is possible for plaque to build up in your arteries to the heart long before you will have symptoms of heart disease such as chest pain. You can feel healthy, and your arteries to the heart are beginning to clog up. As people age, they should be screened periodically for heart disease and more regularly.
Long before you begin to show symptoms of heart disease, you should maybe have a heart disease screening. The results will be able to tell you the condition of your arteries and of your heart. These individuals can be reassured that their arteries and hearts are functioning well. Other people will find that they have some degree of a cardiovascular disease.
A medical concern with cardiovascular disease is arteriosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis is the building up and accumulation of calcium and fatty materials on the artery walls. The result is that the artery wall thickens and blood flow to the heart is diminished causing issues. Screening can determine the levels of cholesterol and triglycerides for each person. Cholesterol and triglycerides are directly associated with heart disease.
If your results from your heart screening indicate some degree of cardiovascular disease, then you several options for treatment and there are actions that you can take to lead a healthy life. You may want to explore a heart healthy diet such as the Mediterranean diet has been demonstrated to improve cardiovascular disease.
Your diet should substitute unsaturated fats for saturated fats. You should increase your vegetables and fruits. You should decrease fatty meats and increase soy products. Eating well is important in improving your heart functioning. Exercise is another healthy activity that leads to improving your heart. Exercise is very important, because exercise increases blood flow. Blood flow cleans the blood of plaque that line the walls of you arteries. Eating healthy and exercising can lead to weight loss. Weight loss is good for heart disease.
Eating healthy and exercise may be enough for some people. Other people may have a more advanced heart disease. The doctor may recommend medication. If you are at risk of heart disease, your doctor may recommend your taking an aspirin every day.
Also, doctors will suggest that you take statins. Statins have been proven to reduce cholesterol as well as decreasing heart attacks in individuals with heart disease. Statins affect three different kinds of lipids HDL, LDL, and triglycerides, which make up the total cholesterol score.
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is a type of cholesterol in the blood that is considered good for heart functioning. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is a type of cholesterol that builds up on the walls of the arteries and is considered unhealthy cholesterol. Triglycerides are the third type of cholesterol that is affected by statins. Statins help the body has decrease triglycerides as well as increase HDL and decrease LDL.
Nicky Stevens is a keen health blogger who has years experience working in this field and often contributes to blogs such as Follow Health in his spare time.
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