Heart Health – How to have a healthy heart – Part 3 – See your doctor

I am always amazed to hear of how many people do not visit their doctor at least once per year.  It also amazes me to find out how many people don’t actually have a physician.  If either of these scenarios describes you, then I hope that I can give you some information that will make you understand why seeing a doctor is so important for your heart health.

I think a good way to look at it is would you consider not getting your vehicle serviced at least once per year, or going without an oil change?  What happens if you don’t maintain your vehicle?  Things would start to fall apart on it and break down on it until one day, it’s so damaged that it’s beyond repair, right?  Well, that’s how we need to think about it when it comes to our hearts.  By doing some regular maintenance now, we can prevent unrepairable damage.

That is where a regular visit to your physician comes in.  Your doctor can check your blood pressure,  and if it’s too high, can  start you on high blood pressure pills as soon as possible.  Being diagnosed  with high blood pressure (hypertension) and starting treatment early on can reduce the damage to your blood vessels and heart.  People who have high blood pressure are more likely to be affected with coronary (heart) artery disease and things like stroke (occurs in the brain), so you want to catch it early.  Next time you are visiting your local pharmacy, you may even want to check to see if there is a machine that will take your blood pressure for you.  A lot of pharmacies offer this service free of charge.

Another thing your doctor can check is your cholesterol.  If you are younger and seemingly healthy, you may want to remind your doctor to do a cholesterol test.  Recognizing this early is also a good way to maintain your heart health.  If there is a  family history of elevated cholesterol, children can even be tested.  My girlfriend was diagnosed when she was nineteen years old!  This was discovered when one of her aunts had a heart attack in her thirties.

So, I hope that I have provided you with a couple good reasons of why you should visit your doctor regularly as a way of keeping your heart healthy.