Heart disease is one of the most common cardiovascular conditions in the UK and the most common cause of heart attacks.
It involves the coronary arteries narrowing or blocking, restricting blood flow to the heart.
Whilst as a mum it’s not something you probably think about often, younger people can suffer from heart disease.
Risk Factors & Prevention
There are certain risk factors that make you more likely to develop heart disease, age being one of the most common ones. People over 65 are much more likely to suffer from a heart attack or heart disease. However, anyone can experience this condition, and therefore the earlier you make lifestyle changes, the better.
Taking action at a younger age could prevent you from developing the disease, and these lifestyle changes will also impact your health in other ways, making you healthier and fitter to look after your kids.
The top risk factors include:
A bad diet containing lots of saturated fat
Smoking
Obesity
Excessive Alcohol Consumption
High Blood Pressure
High Cholesterol
Genetics
You can go a long way to preventing heart disease by leading a healthy lifestyle with a good
diet and exercise.
However, some risk factors such as genetics and ethnicity are unavoidable and cannot be controlled by lifestyle changes. However, living a healthy lifestyle will prevent you from adding additional risk factors and keep you healthier for longer.
You can also use it as an opportunity to spend more quality time with the kids; hiking, swimming, and bike riding are all great activities for your heart that your kids will love doing with you!
How Is Heart Disease Diagnosed?
If you are concerned about heart disease, you should think about visiting a doctor to discuss your worries. They will be able to give you advice and run tests to determine whether you have heart disease and are at risk of a heart attack.
Echelon Health offers a number of assessments and a friendly face to discuss your worries and book you in for any necessary testing. Diagnosing heart disease can be done via a number of tests including bloods to check levels, Echocardiogram (a scan using ultrasound waves), stress test (heart monitoring whilst active), cardiac MRI scan, among others. The Echelon Health specialist will then review your results to get a picture of your heart’s function to ensure it is working correctly and whether any arteries appear to have narrowed.
Telling Your Family
If you find you have heart disease, telling your family is very important. It will allow them to help you change your lifestyle and habits for the better and support you in your journey.
Whilst a diagnosis of heart disease is scary, and not ideal, you can prevent the condition from worsening with good living.
If you are a younger person, particularly with small children, you may be afraid of telling them as you don’t want to cause them stress and anxiety.
Re-frame the negative situation with your kids as an opportunity to spend more time together doing healthy, fun activities, as it will help you stay healthy.
Summary
Whilst some causes are outside of our control, the majority of people get heart disease due to poor diet or other risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption.
Living a healthy lifestyle can help prevent the disease, giving you a longer, healthier life with your kids, but if you are worried you should speak to a professional for testing.