Heart failure is becoming more and more of a health issue as the population ages. It is characterised by such things as breathlessness, fluid retention and fatigue. The heart muscle deteriorates because of damage to it or loss of it. There are a number of conditions which can bring this about. I will merely mention those which have a lifestyle component. These are Hypertension, Coronary Heart Disease and Alcohol Intake. Some medicines are known to cause this condition. They include drugs used to rectify arrythmias of the heart, cytotoxic drugs and so-called calcium antagonist drugs.
Anyone who has heart failure would be well advised to:
I. Stop smoking
II. Reduce any excessive weight to (BMI (Body Mass Index)below 25). see later
III. Increase exercise. see later
IV. Review intake of alcohol.
What can those of us who haven?t been diagnosed do to reduce our chances of suffering from heart failure?
Heart failure is estimated to contribute to 300,000 deaths annually in the USA, so it is significant.
UK figures suggest that 4% of deaths are attributable to it ( > (more than) 10,000 annually).
The good news is that moderate alcohol intake is protective for heart disease.
Be aware however that intake of alcohol has a multitude of implications for an individual?s overall health situation, so we have to look at it in this context.
Smoking, however is well known to be a great own-goal in the health stakes. Risks for heart disease are doubled and those for other disease are increased, so the only real option for good health is to STOP. Reducing smoking is not an effective process in relation to acquiring health benefits. There are plenty of services provided by the NHS which can assist anyone wishing to stop smoking. It is the most significant lifestyle change to reduce risks of ill-health in the future.
Weight and exercise are issues which are forever in the news media. What are we to conclude?
Research results recently published in Circulation give us a clue.
21,094 middle-aged, male doctors in the USA have been monitored for weight and levels of exercise over a long period.
Being as few as seven pounds overweight increased heart failure risk by 11% over 20 years. This shows us that we do not have to be “fat” to be at risk.
Overweight participants (BMI > 25, (< (less than) 30) had risks increased by 49% over the same period.
Obese participants (BMI >30) showed increased risk of 180%
Exercise however seems to be surprisingly effective in warding-off some of this increase.
Vigorous exercise (anything which causes you reach the point of sweating) as few as three times a month reduces risk by 18%, regardless of participants? weight.
The most at risk are therefore, obese and inactive individuals.
The ones at least risk are those of normal weight who participate in regular exercise.
These figures relate to middle-aged men, but I think we could all learn a little from this data.
This information provides a little nudge to get us all to try to achieve an acceptable weight (BMI < 25), and to get into being more active.
| Work out your BMI (Body Mass Index): go to | www.nhlbisupport.com |
| Find out more about stopping smoking: go to | www.smokefree.nhs.uk |
| British Heart Foundation: go to | www.bhf.org.uk |
| Know your limits of alcohol intake: go to | www.units.nhs.uk |
| Exercise (a good place to start): go to | www.bbc.co.uk |
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