If you have recently received a diagnosis of heart disease, you are far from alone. There are millions upon millions of other individuals living in the United States that are dealing with any one of the various conditions falling under the umbrella term of heart disease.
Heart disease has long been the number one cause of death among Americans; however, you are by no means helpless after receiving this diagnosis. In order to prevent your condition from progressing and, in some cases, improve the disease itself, it is critical that you minimize the primary risk factors moving forward. You must, now start taking care of yourself.
First and foremost, speak with your doctor, listen to your doctor, ask questions. If you feel your doctor is not as responsive or helpful as you need her or him to be, then find another one.
In this article, we will discuss a few of the many important lifestyle changes that you need to be aware of to manage your heart disease and prevent this condition from affecting your quality of life.
Medications
After being diagnosed with heart disease, your doctor will most likely prescribe at least one medication that will help you mitigate one or more risk factors. There are several different categories of medications that work to control this disease through various mechanisms that are best discussed with your physician.
Whatever medication you are prescribed, it is extremely important that you not only take it on a routine basis, but that you also monitor your body’s response to the medication.
Often times when an individual begins taking a specific medication designed to treat heart disease, there is a trial and error period where dosages and frequency of administration are required to be adjusted by the prescribing physician so that the patient is able to maximize the benefits of the drug while minimizing any unwanted side effects.
Managing Cholesterol
One of the primary factors that leads to this diagnoses has to do with a buildup of plaque in the walls of your arteries. When this occurs, your heart has a much more difficult time pumping blood throughout the body. The excess strain placed on your heart, when left unchecked, can greatly increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.
While there are several things that can cause a buildup of plaque in the arteries, cholesterol is probably the most well understood. Simply put, there are two types of cholesterol, HDL, and LDL. LDL in particular is known to result in the circulatory issues we just discussed.
Although there is a good chance that your doctor will prescribe a specific medication intended to manage your cholesterol, the importance of diet is still critical. Various types of foods such as oats, certain fruits and beans are just a few of the dietary options known to minimize the amount of LDL present in the body.
Exercise
While this last factor is a rather predictable one to mention, the benefits of exercise available to those with heart disease is important to mention. As you are probably aware, getting enough physical activity is advantageous for basically every facet of health, but there are several factors pertaining to heart disease that should not be ignored.
We have already mentioned that there are two types of cholesterol, HDL, and LDL. Furthermore, we discussed how increased LDL can lead to the buildup of plaque in arterial walls.
However, HDL, the other form of cholesterol, can actually work to accomplish the exact opposite. Fortunately, regular exercise has been proven to increase the amount of HDL in the body.
Chronic stress is both a risk factor for developing heart disease and increasing the risk for serious complications after being diagnosed with the disease. When you are stressed, there are a multitude of responses inside your body that try to deal with it.
None of these responses, when experienced on a chronic basis, are good for the heart. As you may be able to deduce from the discussion thus far, regular exercise a great way to lower your overall level of stress.
Conclusion
If you have been reading any of the other health related articles we have posted here on the BAM! website, there is a common theme to what we post and that is that we men need to better take care of ourselves. Taking care of our mental and physical health is critical for us to have a healthy and productive life.
Two really simple things that we can do for ourselves in order to lead healthy productive lives are to eat right and exercise. And yes, just about all of the health related articles posted here come down to that advice. You need to take care of yourself.
From the BAM! perspective, there is little need and benefit for us to be worried about the things that are out of our control. If we cannot really do anything about something, why should we worry about it? Yes there will be times that we do need to choose how we react to something that has happened. And for this, we always suggest that we take the “high-road” as best as we can.
But if there is something that is within our power to change our lives for the better, why the hell would we not do just that?
Eating right and getting in some exercise is an easy way for us to improve our quality of life. What we eat and how much we move is completely within our power to do something about. With the benefits of doing these simple easy things, why would we not?
For just about all aspects of our life, not just those related to our health, the benefits that we receive from making positive changes to our lives far outweighs the amount of effort that we need to put in to make those changes.
This is a main purpose of the BAM! website: For us men to do the right things for our lives and loved ones and to be the DtRTy guy!
We need to stop slowly killing ourselves and make the choice to live better productive and healthy lives. We need to do this for ourselves and for the people in our lives that we love and that hopefully love us back.
Be A Man – Do The Right Thing. It’s Your Life. It’s Your Choice. Take Care Of Yourself. Eat Right And Exercise.
BAM!!! Be A Man! Do The Right Thing.
Be the DtRTy Guy!