Know the Major Risk Factors of Heart Disease

• Obesity and Overweight

In some people, obesity is in itself a condition but with most people, it is due to their inactive lifestyle. The extra weight leads to high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and diabetes which are all conditions that increase the risk of heart disease. Follow an active lifestyle and a healthy diet to reduce your weight as even a 5-10 % decrease in weight will help in improving the condition of your heart.

• Smoking and Alcohol Consumption

Most of the people have this misconception that smoking only harms their lungs. They fail to realize that smoking also increases the heart rate, creates irregularities in heartbeats, and tightens the arteries. All these make the heart work harder than it does in a person who doesn’t smoke. Also, smoking is responsible for raising blood pressure which is also a contributing risk factor.  

Apart from smoking, excessive consumption of alcohol also leads to heart problems such as irregular heartbeats, stroke, blood pressure, and cardiomyopathy. The added calories in alcohol also lead to weight gain. 

• Physical Inactivity

People who don’t follow an active lifestyle or exercise regularly are at a higher risk of falling prey to heart disease than people who do. Exercise helps in reducing weight and control your sugar level hence controlling the two major conditions namely obesity and diabetes. Exercising also reduces blood pressure and keeps the muscles of your heart strong. So being active and doing even a moderate-intensity exercise consistently can reduce the risk factors of heart disease. 

Family History: The risk of heart disease runs in the family. If you’re your family member had heart disease of any cardiovascular disorder than you are also at a high risk of developing heart disease. Other conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity or diabetes also running in the family and thus could be a hereditary factor of heart disease. 

Other Factors: Apart from these, there are other risk factors such as age, excessive stress, sex hormones, gender and birth control pills are among other risk factors that contribute to the risk of a heart attack. 

So, we have studied the major risk factors of heart disease and the ways to avoid them. The risk factors related to age or family history may be unavoidable but if you can work on reducing the behavioral risk factors than chances of having heart disease will be significantly reduced.