Heart Attacks and Its Causes
By: Robert NamTotal Views: 326, Word Count: 882,
In the US, heart attacks are the biggest killer, in spite of such a dangerous situation, many people are still confused about the term ‘heart attack and its causes’. One reason for such confusion can be that many different terms are used to describe the same situation. In the medical term heart attack is also called as myocardial infarction, or more simply as MI.
A heart attack occurs due to the death of the heart muscle from the sudden blockage of a coronary artery by a blood clot. Coronary arteries are blood vessels which supplies blood and oxygen to heart muscles. If the coronary artery gets blocked, the heart muscle gets deprived from getting blood and oxygen, which results in causing an injury to the heart muscles. Injury to heart muscles leads to chest pain and chest pressure sensation. If the blood flow does not restore to the heart muscles within 20 to 40 minutes, it leads to the death of heart muscles. Muscles continue to die one after the other for six to eight hours, and usually the heart attack occurs.
Normally, heart attacks are viewed to be caused due to several different factors. One of the most common causes is atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis involves build up of plaque on the walls of the arteries. This plaque around the artery, hardens the walls of the artery and if left alone may lead to block the artery altogether. This will also cause a myocardial infarct. One of the greatest fears about the atherosclerosis is that it builds up very slowly without producing any tell-tale symptoms.
The other way of causing a heart attack is by coronary thrombosis. In the coronary thrombosis, the artery gets blocked because of the clot, which prevents the free passage of blood to the heart muscle. It is also some times, referred to as a coronary occlusion.
Causes of Heart Attack
The other unavoidable, partially avoidable, and avoidable causes of heart attack are mentioned below.
Unavoidable Causes of Heart Attack
- Age- Age is the major risk factor for the cause of heart attack. The advanced age leads to hardening of the blood vessels.
- Sex- The hardening of arteries is less among women as compared to that of men. Some of the sex hormones are responsible for this condition. It is significant fact that males are at a risk of 80 to 90% for heart attack.
- Heredity – Some people inherit this disease from their parents or ancestors. In such cases, the process of hardening the blood vessel is advanced even at a young age.
Partially Avoidable Causes of Heart Attack
- High level of homocysteine in blood- homocystin in the blood transforms into a harmful substance called homocystin. This harmful substance leads to hardening of the arteries.
- High level of sugar in blood (Diabetes) - Diabetes leads to upsets the metabolic process of carbohydrates and resulting in increasing the level of sugar in blood. However, the cell of the body cannot use this sugar due to excess secretion of insulin. Hence, diabetes adversely affects the blood vessels.
- High level of cholesterol in blood- Higher level of cholesterol level and triglycerides in the blood expedites to the hardening of the blood vessels. If the level of triglycerides is also high in the blood system, it enhances the chances of heart attack.
Avoidable Chances of Heart Attack
· Smoking – Smoking leads first among all the avoidable causes of heart attack. Chances of heart attack increases to the person, 3 to 5 times higher if the person is a smoker or chain smoker.
· Sedentary life- Living a life in a sedentary style enhances the chance of developing an obesity and mental tension (depression) which eventually results in heart attack.
· High blood pressure- High blood pressure is one of the hazardous causes for the heart attack. The chances of developing heart attack also increases with the increasing blood pressure.
· Physical inactivity- People who do not exercise have a much higher risk of developing a heart attack as compared to people who exercise regularly
· Diet- People who eat food rich in saturated fats or animals fats or high quantity of fat food also have a higher risk of developing a heart attack.
Unfortunately, heart attack is too common to avoid, but a bit of knowledge and attentive steps towards the condition might work to save your own life and those of other too. Try to perform regular health checkup, which will eliminate any possible causes for the future problems.
About the Author
Dr. Robert Nam is a well known heart specialist and has done postgraduate training in cardiology at the national heart hospital, the London chest hospital and UCL hospital, London. He was also engaged in research at the national heart and lung institute. Nowadays he is working as a consultant cardiologist at UCL hospital, London.
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