In order to improve prevention in cardiology, here are the rules to follow to avoid heart disease.
- Prioritizing a healthy lifestyle has a beneficial impact on heart health.
- Cardiovascular diseases are the second leading cause of death in France after cancer.
Cardiovascular or cardio-neurovascular diseases are the first cause of death in the world, but they are not inexorable.
Indeed, we can have a take on some of the factors that contribute to the risk of heart disease, including behavioral risks such as smoking, insufficient physical activity and sedentary lifestyle, unbalanced diet, excessive alcohol consumption, stress, certain sleep disorders.
Smoking
smoking contributes to the build-up of plaque in the arteries, increases the risk of blood clots, reduces the oxygen supply in the blood, which makes the heart work unnecessarily.
After a study by definitively quitting smoking, the cardiovascular risks drop after five years of quitting smoking, by 39% on average.
In France, 25% of smoking-related deaths are due to cardiovascular causes and in the United States, cigarettes are responsible for 20% of cardiovascular deaths.
Need to move
Regarding physical activity, international recommendations insist on the need to move to fight against cardiovascular mortality.
Indeed, physical activity would be our best ally, even if certain repeated physical activities such as carrying heavy loads can be harmful, according to Inserm.
It is mainly endurance physical activity that is recommended for the heart, ideally every day for 30 minutes.
The important thing is not to remain sedentary: the risk of cardiovascular disease in inactive people compared to active people is multiplied by 2 to 6 according to epidemiological studies.
Protection factor
Nutrition is a protective or risk factor for many diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, which is why Public Health France recommends increasing the proportion of fruits and vegetables, pulses, unsalted nuts and homemade nuts in the diet, consuming whole grains of preference and reducing sugary products and sugary drinks, products savouries, charcuterie, meat (pork, beef, veal, mutton, lamb, offal).
Numerous studies have shown that eating more plant-based foods can reduce the risk of developing heart disease at any age.
Dangerous
Other factors include lack of sleep has a profound impact on cardiovascular health and severe, chronic stress can harm heart health:
“Intense stress has a very strong effect on the sympathetic autonomic nervous system which causes great stimulation of the heart directly, as well as through hormones such as adrenaline. These changes make the heart beat faster, cause severe cardiac arrhythmias, or can cause the coronary arteries to contract.” explains Dr. Martin JuneauCardiologist and Director of Prevention, Montreal Heart Institute.
In addition, people who are stressed or who lack sleep tend to adopt behaviors that are harmful to the heart and health in general, such as drinking too much alcohol, eating more sugar and smoking.
