Causes of Heart Attack and Its Prevention

What exactly is heart attack?

A Heart Attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is interrupted. This deprives the heart muscle of oxygen, causing tissue damage or tissue death. Other names for heart attack include coronary thrombosis, and coronary occlusion. 

Heart attack is an outcome of Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD), also called coronary heart disease. If too much plaque (fatty material) builds up in the coronary arteries, it can decrease the blood flow to the heart. If the plaque tears, a blood clot will form that may close off or severely narrow the artery.

A heart attack occurs when the clot blocks the flow of blood to the heart. Cells in the heart start to die if they are without oxygen-rich blood for more than a few minutes. Heart attack also can occur if an artery that supplies the heart starts to spasm or contract. The spasm decreases or can stop blood flow.

Heart attack symptoms:

“Heart attack symptoms differ in women.”Women having a heart attack are less likely to experience chest pain, compared with men. A heart attack can cause a range of different symptoms, from crushing chest pains to tingling in the limbs, and feelings of breathlessness or nausea. When your chest is hurting, figuring out if your discomfort is caused by a cardiac event or indigestion can be a matter of life or death. Indigestion is felt higher in the chest and may cause a lot of pain. You might feel the discomfort at any place between your stomach and your mouth area, so you might feel that your acid reflux is a cardiac event. On the other hand, cardiac arrest might have signs or symptoms resembling heartburn.

Thus you may think that your heart attack is just a bad case of acid reflux. Acid reflux frequently includes the following signs or symptoms. The very first is soreness from your stomach to your mouth. Also, inside your mouth you may also have a bitter taste. The 2nd is that the character of the discomfort is nearer to a burning sensation, rather than a feeling of heaviness or squeezing inside your chest. Chest pressure is more apt to be an indication of a heart attack, however occasionally it can be due to heartburn. Queasiness, wooziness and excessive sweating are a few of the signs or symptoms of heart attack. Some weakness, difficulty breathing, anxiety and pain which advance towards the jaw, shoulders or arms are also signs and symptoms.

Signs of a Heart- attack:

● Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack.

●Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.

●The pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.

Heart disease prevention:

You can’t change your age or family history, but you can do other things to lower your risk. Start by practicing these heart-healthy habits:

● Don’t smoke.

● Try to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day on most days.

● Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and avoid saturated fat.

● Make an effort to lower your stress level.

● Get your blood pressure checked at every visit to doctor– If your blood pressure stays high over the course of several checkups, you might need to work with your doctor to change your diet and exercise habits. You may also need to take medicine to help lower your blood pressure.

● Take a cholesterol test - If high cholesterol shows you are at risk for developing heart disease, ask for help in changing your diet and exercise habits.

● Ask about aspirin therapy - Patients at moderate risk for developing heart disease may be advised by their doctor to take an aspirin a day.

Benefits of drinking warm water to prevent heart attack:

It is always pleasing to have a glass of cold water after a meal. However, the freezing water will coagulate the oily substances that you have just eaten. It will certainly slow down the process of digestion. Once this “sludge” counters with the acid, it will break down and be engrossed by the intestine quicker than the solid food and it will line the intestine. Immediately, this will turn into fats and may lead to cancer. Therefore, it is finest to drink hot soup or tepid water after each meal.

Contributed by: Shikha Mishra