What Are Heart Disease and Stroke?

You’re probably familiar with heart disease and stroke as two of the most common causes of death in America. But what are they exactly?

Heart disease is a term used to describe a wide range of conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. These diseases can be life-threatening if left untreated, but most of them are preventable, treatable or controllable with healthy lifestyle choices.

Stroke is a medical emergency caused by a disruption in blood flow to your brain. This blockage can slow or stop the blood supply to part of your brain, which can result in serious injury to brain tissue.

Heart disease and stroke are two of the leading causes of death in the United States. They are also among the most common chronic conditions in adults.

Heart disease is a term used to describe a number of conditions that affect your heart, including coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and arrhythmia’s.

Stroke is an acute brain injury caused by a disruption in blood flow to the brain. A stroke can cause a loss of function in part or all of your body, depending on where it occurs within the brain.

The good news is that there are many things you can do to reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke:

Eating well-balanced meals and exercising regularly can help lower cholesterol levels and improve circulation.

Quitting smoking reduces your risk for developing heart disease and stroke.

Controlling high blood pressure can help prevent complications from occurring later in life.

How Is Smoking Related to Heart Disease and Stroke?

Smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The good news is that quitting smoking can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Each year, approximately 480,000 Americans die as a result of smoking, including deaths from heart disease and stroke. In addition, smoking causes many other diseases, including cancer, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Smoking damages blood vessels in many ways:

It reduces the amount of oxygen that reaches your heart muscle cells and other body tissues. This can cause chest pain (angina) and heart muscle damage (myocardial infarction).

It increases your blood pressure by narrowing arteries in your lungs, which restricts blood flow to your heart muscle cells. This can lead to heart failure or high blood pressure in the arteries leading to your brain (cerebral vascular insufficiency).

It increases the stickiness of platelets in your blood, which makes them more likely to form clots that could lead to a stroke or heart attack if they become lodged in an artery supplying blood flow to your brain or heart muscle cells (embolism).

How Is Breathing Secondhand Smoke Related to Heart Disease and Stroke?

Secondhand smoke is the smoke that comes from a burning cigarette, cigar or pipe. It contains over 7,000 chemicals, including more than 70 known to cause cancer. While smoking rates have declined in the United States, secondhand smoke exposure continues to be a major public health problem. Exposure to secondhand smoke is a cause of heart disease and stroke.

The risk of heart attack increases with the number of cigarettes smoked, and the risk is even greater when you are exposed to more than one smoker at home or work. People who are directly exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work have a 25-30% higher risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) compared with those who are not exposed.

Exposure to secondhand smoke causes an increase in blood pressure as well as changes in blood fats (such as cholesterol), which can lead to blood vessel blockage (atherosclerosis). These changes in blood vessel function may trigger heart attacks and strokes.

How Can Heart Disease and Stroke Be Prevented?

It’s important to remember that heart disease and stroke are preventable. Here are some steps you can take:

Eat a healthy diet. Eat fewer calories, saturated fat, and sodium. Choose foods that are high in fiber, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and low-fat dairy products. Limit your intake of saturated fat to less than 10 percent of total calories (about 20 grams per day).

Don’t smoke or use tobacco products. If you smoke or use tobacco products, quit now! Talk to your doctor about medications that can help you quit smoking successfully.

Be physically active every day. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week (or about 30 minutes daily), plus muscle strengthening exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms). You should be able to talk but not sing while doing this type of exercise. Examples include brisk walking, swimming laps or riding a stationary bike or elliptical machine.

Maintain a healthy weight throughout life by consuming fewer calories than you burn through physical activity. For most people this means burning an extra 500 calories per day would result in losing 1 pound per week.

Other Related Disease of Smoking

Smoking is the main cause of many diseases and health conditions. It is harmful to both the smoker and those around them. There are more than 70 types of cancer that can be caused by smoking.

Smoking causes cancer in several organs including:

• Lungs
• Throat (larynx)
• Esophagus (food pipe)
• Bladder
• Stomach
• Kidney