Cardiovascular Diseases: The Leading Cause of Death Worldwide

 4 Lifestyle Changes to Reduce Your Risk of a Heart Attack… Start Now 

Cardiovascular Diseases.. The Leading Cause of Death Worldwide

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, contributing to approximately 30% of deaths and long-term disabilities globally. This has prompted scientists and doctors to dedicate themselves to finding solutions, treatments, and methods of prevention.

A British physician and cardiologist has identified four lifestyle changes that individuals should make to avoid strokes and heart attacks, emphasizing that these four changes can help maintain good health.

The British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, quoted Dr. John Deanfield, a professor of cardiology at University College London and a consultant cardiologist, as saying that while genetics plays a role in heart attacks, studies have shown that first heart attacks, which occur on average around age 67, are rarely random. Large-scale international studies confirm that 70 to 80% of them can be attributed to external and lifestyle factors.

Deanfield summarizes these factors as four, all of which he says are modifiable and controllable: smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Based on these four factors, Deanfield recommends four lifestyle changes to help avoid heart attacks. These four changes are as follows:

First: Quit smoking. Smoking remains the most harmful behavior for heart health. It damages the lining of the arteries, causes inflammation, and increases the blood's tendency to clot. Over time, plaque builds up in the artery wall, and if it ruptures, it can cause a serious problem such as a heart attack or stroke.

On average, smoking reduces life expectancy by about 10 years, but large-scale population studies have shown that quitting smoking early, before age 40, can restore about 90% of those lost years.

Second, control your cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is essential for life; it contributes to cell building, hormone and vitamin D production, and the formation of bile acids for food digestion. However, when cholesterol levels in the blood are high, excess cholesterol accumulates inside the arteries, a process known as atherosclerosis, which is the leading cause of most heart attacks and strokes.

Third, maintain normal blood pressure. High blood pressure is often referred to as the "silent killer," and data indicates that it contributes to more than 50% of strokes worldwide. It rarely causes symptoms, but over time it damages the blood vessels that supply the heart, brain, and kidneys, and doubles the risks associated with high cholesterol.

Scientists emphasize that high blood pressure is not an inevitable part of aging, but rather a sign of disease development. As arteries harden due to aging and disease, blood pressure rises, becoming both a cause and a consequence of arterial damage. 

Therefore, it is important to monitor blood pressure readings. Diets high in salt or processed foods, excessive alcohol consumption, weight gain, and lack of exercise all contribute to high blood pressure. Alcohol also raises blood pressure in both the short and long term.

Fourth: Weight management and reducing the risk of diabetes. Obesity has become a global public health crisis in recent decades. Excess abdominal fat is one of the strongest modifiable risk factors for type 2 diabetes, which in turn significantly increases the risk of heart disease. Chronically high blood sugar damages artery walls, increasing the likelihood of heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease.