Facts About Heart Disease For Men And How To Protect Yourself Against A Heart Attack Or Stroke

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

There is no denying the phenomenal number of deaths, each and every year, from heart disease. And the facts about heart disease for men show that men are very susceptible to varying types of heart disease, resulting in a high percentage of deaths sadly, in a lot of cases.

Let's go back a few years and take a look at some of the facts about heart disease for men, that were published by the CDC website (Centers For Disease Control And Prevention in the United States):
26% of men who died in 2006, passed away as result of heart disease - more than one in every 4.
Between 70% and 89% of sudden cardiac events occur in men.

Half of the men who die suddenly from coronary artery disease have no previous symptoms. Just because you have no symptoms, does not mean you are not at risk of developing heart disease.

In 2006, about 9.4% of all white men, 7.8% of black men, and 5.3% of Mexican American men, were living with coronary artery disease.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men of most racial/ethnic groups in the United States.
While the above facts about heart disease for men reflect the United States, the statistics are equally as frightening in countries around the world.

In order to protect yourself against heart disease, you need to be aware of the risk factors:

Having high LDL cholesterol (which is known as the bad cholesterol)
Suffering from high blood pressure
Eating a poor and unhealthy diet
Carrying extra weight
Not being physically active
Suffering from diabetes
Smoking cigarettes
Drinking alcohol

The truth is, knowing the facts about heart disease for men is irrelevant if you do not take action, and start dealing with the above risk factors.

Here's the thing. Making any kind of lifestyle change, regardless of who you are, is difficult at the best of times. And where most people fail, is trying to change too much at once.

The key to success is starting at the point where you can make the biggest difference and impact.
And the best place to start is managing your cholesterol levels, and maintaining them. The reason being, one of the key facts about heart disease for men, women and young adults, is that high cholesterol is strongly linked to heart disease, and can result in you having a heart attack or stroke.
Let me explain how. When your LDL cholesterol levels become too high, the extra amounts of LDL in your system, will attach themselves to your artery walls.

Plaque will eventually build up, clots will form, and your coronary arteries that feed the blood to your heart and brain, will become blocked. This will cause you to have a heart attack or a stroke.
Now, the good news is, HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol, will travel through your bloodstream, and collect those extra amounts of LDL, take them to your liver and eventually, your body will excrete them.

But, for HDL to be able to do this, you must maintain high HDL levels at all times.
The biggest cause of unhealthy cholesterol levels is food. What you eat every day impacts your cholesterol levels.

Eat less of foods that are high in saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol, like animal products, dairy products, fast food, fried foods, pre-packaged foods and processed foods, as they dramatically increase LDL cholesterol.

Consume more fish, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and vegetables, as these will lower LDL cholesterol while raising HDL.

A little exercise every day will get your HDL levels raised.

Now, it is so easy to think, sure why not just get a prescription for cholesterol medication and take it, and everything will be ok? That would not be a wise move.

And here's why. Those prescription meds, while fine at lowering LDL, really don't help HDL in any way, which leaves your cholesterol levels imbalanced.

But more serious than that, they have dangerous side effects, including muscle pain, memory loss, liver damage and heart failure, and so are not worth the risk.

But what you can do, is take a cholesterol supplement, with natural ingredients like policosanol, lecithin, theaflavins and phytosterols, which will not only lower LDL and triglycerides, but will raise HDL too.

Those particular ingredients have had excellent success, for previous high cholesterol sufferers, at achieving optimal cholesterol levels, and protecting against heart disease.

When it comes to the facts about heart disease for men or indeed women and young people, the one risk factor that stands out over all others, is high cholesterol, and when you deal with that, you automatically start impacting on the other ones.

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