Heart Disease Risk

Heart disease risk increases with the more risk factors you have. You may recall from a previous post, that there are controllable and uncontrollable risk factors. First, the uncontrollable risk factors include:

• being male increases your risk.  The risk to females increases after menopause.  Until then, the hormone estrogen provides a protective property to females.
• age – the older you get, the higher the risk
• family history  and ethnicity

The controllable risk factors include:

• Activity levels – If you are inactive, your risk of heart disease increases.  You should be exercising for at least 30 minutes every day for a healthy heart.  Consult your physician before beginning a weight loss program. Losing weight will help to reduce your risk of heart disease, as it will often lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
• Stress – Make sure you learn ways to deal with the stress in your life, because studies have shown that people who lead stressful lives also suffer increased risk of heart disease.
• Smoking – increases your risk
• Blood pressure – high BP increases your risk of heart disease.  You can control and sometimes even lower your blood pressure through exercise, stopping smoking, and limiting alcohol to no more than two drinks per day.  If your blood pressure is within normal levels, you can maintain it through the above-mentioned techniques as well as supplementing with a quality Blood Pressure Supplement . As well, this book is highly recommended as an aid in helping you to reduce your blood pressure:
  
• Cholesterol – again, if your cholesterol levels are too high, it is reported that your heart disease risk increases.  To gain control of your cholesterol, you need to exercise, stop smoking, and follow a Heart Disease Diet . To make it easier to prepare foods that are low in cholesterol and low in fat, a HIGHLY-RATED cookbook is:
  
  To reduce cholesterol without the use of prescription medications (which can result in all sorts of side effects), here is another great book: