What are the Symptoms & Risk Factors of Heart Disease. How Can Diet & Exercise Help?

Trainer Tuesdays

Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.

What are the Symptoms & Risk Factors of Heart Disease? How Can Diet & Exercise Help?

  

Michael Roberto: When talking about heart disease, it is very important to know and look for signs of irregularity.  Symptoms may include shortness of breath, nausea, pain in the neck, chest and jaw regions of the body and fatigue ranging from low to extreme.  But with exercise, you can lower your risk of having heart disease.  By exercising, you lower your blood pressure and reduces strain on the heart.  Exercise also increases good cholesterol which transports fat away from the arteries and sends the fat to the liver to be filtered.  Eating a clean diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains and limiting refined sugar will also lower your chances of heart disease.

Justin Traft: So many people ask ‘what are some risk factors of heart disease?’ This is pretty easy to answer-- Diets play a huge part in it. Studies have shown people consuming large amounts of processed foods and red meats have a higher likelihood of developing heart disease. What makes that even worse is that 5 out of 10 people with that lifestyle don't exercise, which heightens the risk even more for suffering from heart disease. You can't absorb garbage on a nonstop basis and expect your heart to keep pumping normally without the proper nutrition and exercise that it needs. Keep in mind heart disease kills more people then every form of cancer... it’s the leading cause of death in both men and women. A sound diet is just as important as a great workout routine. Having a cardio program like Cardio Together is also a key factor in keeping your heart healthy. Getting your heart rate up is beneficial for not only you but for your heart as well. It's a living oxygenated muscle. Doing cardio helps to ensure that when your heart is in cardiac stress or strain it's able to handle the load put upon it. So do yourself a favor if not already start thinking about your heart. Remember a healthy heart equals a lifetime of happiness instead of a lifetime of sadness.

Adam Teplitz: With February being heart health month, it's important to take note of the risk factors for heart disease.

There are certain major risk factors that you're born with, which cannot be changed.
Increasing Age: the majority of people who die of coronary heart disease are 65 years or older.
Gender: men are at a greater risk for heart attacks than women. They tend to have heart attacks earlier in life. Women have some protection because of the effects produced by estrogen; however, post-menopausal women will generally have the same risk as men.

Hereditary: children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop it themselves.
Fortunately, there are major risk factors that you can modify, treat or control by changing your lifestyle or taking medicine. These risk factors include stress, alcohol, and diet.

A healthy diet is one of the best ways to control and limit heart disease. The food you eat can affect other controllable risk factors: cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and weight. Make sure to choose nutrient rich foods containing vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Physical inactivity is another major risk factor that you have complete control over. Regular moderate to vigorous physical activity helps reduce the risk of heart and blood vessel disease by keeping the heart strong.

A healthy diet complemented with a structured strength and cardio routine is the perfect weapon to fight cardiovascular disease.

Amanda Ricci: Some of the risks of heart disease include: being of the age 65 years or older, male gender, family history, smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle and having diabetes. Some of the symptoms for heart disease include: chest pain or heart palpitations, and sometimes there are no symptoms. 

       
Exercise and diet can help reduce your risk for heart disease in that building muscle helps to tone the smooth lining of your arteries, (which is composed of smooth muscle tissue) and that helps to assist the blood in returning back to the heart.  This means that the heart does not have to work as hard and which is why your blood pressure can potentially decrease up to 12 hours after working out.  Exercise also helps to increase your good cholesterol levels a.k.a. HDL (high density lipoproteins).  According to the Mayo Clinic, “For every 6 lbs. you lose, your HDL may increase by 1mg/dl. Another way to increase your HDL is by eating healthier.  A good range for your HDL cholesterol is between 40-59 mg/dl, the higher the better. 

 In addition, one of the other ways that exercise and good nutrition helps reduce the risk of heart disease include preventing or reversing diabetes.  Exercise assists by reducing blood glucose or sugar levels in the body.  When an individual has diabetes it means their body is not producing enough insulin from the pancreas to process the sugar and distribute the energy to our cells. When the pancreas isn’t functioning properly and too much sugar stays in the body it can cause diabetes.  Therefore, exercise helps the cells in the body distribute and eliminate that sugar in the body.  A healthier diet can also help by reducing the amount of sugar that the pancreas must process.  So as you can see there are numerous benefits to exercise and a healthy diet.  It is better to reverse or prevent development of as many risk factors as possible.  Obviously age, gender and family history cannot be controlled. However, smoking, cholesterol, blood pressure, lifestyle and diabetes are able to be controlled.

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