Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factors

Cardiovascular disease risk factors can be either major, or contributing factors.  This article will cover a couple of the major risk factors it is important that you know about,  so as to attempt to prevent heart disease in your own life.

High blood pressure is a biggie.  You can have high blood pressure without any other risk factors at all, and it can greatly increase your chances of having a heart attack or a stroke.  If you also have other risk factors as well, then your chances are of heart attack or stroke are greatly increased.
High cholesterol levels in the blood is also one of the major cardiovascular disease risk factors.  Cholesterol is a substance that is carried in your blood that greatly resembles fat.  Your blood cholesterol level increases when you eat foods high in cholesterol and saturated fat, like many red meats, and high fat dairy products or butter.  When too much bad cholesterol is present, it can harden and create plaque along your artery walls, which can eventually lead to a heart attack.

Another of the major cardiovascular disease risk factors include obesity.  Being overweight can greatly increase your risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke, as well as diabetes, which is in and of itself a major contributing factor to heart disease.  Being overweight puts more strain on your heart, and is thought to raise your risk of high blood pressure and raise your overall cholesterol levels, which is bad for your arterial walls.

A good way to check if you are within a healthy weight range is to see your doctor and have him measure your BMI.  Those of you with a BMI of over 25 are considered overweight, and over 30 is considered obese.  This means that other cardiovascular disease risk factors are greatly increased as well.  As you can see there are several major risks you need to consider when assessing your potential for heart disease.  Be on the look out for the next article and we will cover a few more of the major cardiovascular disease risk factors.

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