How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

Heart health is important to living a quality life. However, heart disease is affecting a growing number of the population. This disease, although linked to genetics, can be prevented or reversed in its early stages. Obtaining a heart disease risk assessment could be instrumental in the prevention of arterial plaque build-up.

What are some of the contributing factors of heart disease? Smoking, certain saturated fats, high cholesterol foods, high blood pressure, and elevated sugar levels due to diabetes are some of the main contributing factors to the development of heart disease. When plaque begins to build up inside the walls of the arteries from excessive fat intake, heart damage can also occur. Over time, the effects of plaque in the arteries can be lethal. Blockages can prevent adequate flow of blood through the heart, resulting in heart attack or stroke.

It is important to remain optimistic about treatment. Heart disease has been found to be reversible in its early stages. Adopting healthier eating habits, an active lifestyle, and habits by which to manage stress are three main methods for reversing your heart disease.

So we have prepared a utility list of items that can reduce and even reverse the risk of heart related illnesses so without further ado:

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

This type of fat is founding fish and has been proven to reduce the risk of sudden death without evidence of pre-existing cardiovascular issues.  Doctors recommend that oily fish should be eaten twice a week to help reduce the risk of heart issues.

Vitamin D

It has been proposed that doubling your intake of vitamin D can significantly reduce risk of mortality not only for cardio issues but for all medical causes.  However, the Journal of American Geriatric Society found in 2010 that is more pronounced when dealing with heart issues.

Magnesium

Magnesium has a major role in helping to protect the heart from disease.  In 2010, the Journal of Biomedical Sciences published people who excrete higher levels of magnesium were less likely to have cardiovascular problems, which clearly indicates its protective role.

Natural Compounds Which May Unclog Your Arteries

Pomegranate

Pomegranate has been found to have reversed artery thickness by up to 29% in one year in some cases.  Additionally, this fruit reduces blood pressure, reduces infection and reduces inflammation.

Arginine

This amino acid not not only halts the progression of athersclerosis but can also have a reversal effect on pathologies associated with the process - essentially declogging arteries.

Garlic

Garlic is a wonderful herb with many healthy properties including reducing risk factors which are associated with arteriosclerosis, which is a thickening and hardening of the arteries, which in turn reduces the risk of a heart attack or a stroke.  There are 150 diseases which garlic is known to have potential in treating and preventing health issues.

If you are ever in any doubt about your heart health contact your GP who will arrange a heart disease risk assessment for you to find out what the problem is.  There are lots of articles like this online for help and advice so get as much information as you possibly can, it will take a load of your mind.

Health in an ageing society

When we hit milestone birthdays, for many of us it's often a reminder of how, when we were younger, we just kind of thought we'd be young forever. Over time though, the inevitability of getting older becomes more and more apparent - it could be the appearance of grey hairs, wrinkles where once there was smoothness. Getting older is just part of life, and healthy living is a priority - no matter how many years we've been around for.

As a society, though, we're ageing. A lot of this is down to very positive things - better understanding of nutrition, greater wealth, and advances in medical and drug technology have meant that life expectancy is on the increase. For governments this will be a challenge as time progresses - and changes are already in place to help make sure people have more in older age. One example of this is the alteration to the retirement age - so while retirement was hitherto compulsory, there's now no fixed retirement age, although in certain jobs there may be one for health and safety reasons.

And as time passes there are bound to be big changes in the way that health in the UK is managed - specifically as regards care for the elderly. As this UK parliament page on the ageing population indicates, the number of centenarians - of projections prove accurate - is going to increase fast enough to make them quickest growing age group in the country. And to think that just a few short decades ago reaching triple figures was an unusual enough birthday that you'd get a personal message from the monarch.

The issue of ageing made the headlines again this week click here for a BBC news story on the topic, which quotes a survey result showing over three quarters of respondents believe that government 'isn't ready to cope with changing demographics'.

For more on health and wellbeing in this topic area, check out the Age UK charity's site.