Cardiovascular disease has become the leading cause of death in North America today. In the past, men seem to have garnered the most attention for cardiovascular disease, but it’s important to note that this disease also affects women, with more women dying from this disease than mortality from all cancers combined. However, even though these are alarming statistics, heart disease is, in fact, entirely preventable.

Furthermore, it can be suggested that American society is guilty of succumbing to excess diseases including diabetes, gout, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, which in turn can lead to heart disease and stroke. Additionally, our society is known for many addictions including food, tobacco, alcohol, and stress. Unfortunately, these addictions are the precursors to the cause of these medical problems.

Furthermore, rising societal levels of obesity and inactivity along with associated disturbances in metabolism and increased blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels that typically become problems in turn lead with high probability to onset of injury and inflammation to the walls of the arteries that result in the buildup of cholesterol and other debris that causes atherosclerosis.

It is amazing to see that with the development of medical science where we know more about the human heart than ever before, we actually treat this fantastic organ with very little respect. Men and women are dying prematurely at the age of 45, 55 or 65, which is really disconcerting because the heart was not built to fail in the prime of life, but to keep pumping through the eighties and beyond until the heart matches. century mark. Unfortunately, this fist-sized organ made up of blood vessels, muscles, and even electrical transmitters is ruined by our excessive temptations like smoking, alcohol abuse, and lazy inactivity in front of the television day in and day out.

Another trend is what we choose to eat, and what we find is that our food choices are dangerously suspect: we eat the worst kinds of fats and carbohydrates and very little of the beneficial fats, fiber, and antioxidants needed for a healthy heart. . In addition, the stress we live with causes our bodies to deal with very high levels of stress hormones that affect our necessary leisure and relaxation time.

Indeed, the general problem is that we have reached the point where we even produce stress hormones on a daily basis to counteract our daily behaviors that are not really life-threatening. Events such as meeting deadlines, traffic, answering cell phones, emails, and faxes are contributing to unnecessary symptoms of stress that result in increased heart rate and even heart rhythm disturbances, increased blood pressure, blood and cholesterol levels.

Well, what should be done to correct the problems of an unhealthy lifestyle that affects the function of the heart? There are many lifestyle events or programs that help people deal with stress: for example, yoga, meditation, muscle relaxation techniques are just some of the actions that can benefit. There is also the availability of vitamin and mineral therapies that can help you cope. Simply adopting the behavior of taking supplements to help with daily stress can do wonders for how you feel about your health. Getting into the routine of making healthy choices, not just with the foods we eat, and the vices of stress that we really recognize we may have, and want to eliminate as much as possible, will go a long way toward ensuring our hearts beat. in the most optimal way possible.