A Family History of Heart Disease
When I first heard my wife talk about her father's side of the family and the history of Heart Disease I was surprised to hear what I heard. When I first asked her about her father, she told me that he had passed away at the young age of 35 years old. When I asked what had happened, her response was, " it was a heart attack." I could not believe that someone could die so young from a heart attack. Then she continued to tell me that her grandfather, her father's father, had also died of a heart attack at the same age of 35 years old. Her father was a smoker, chewed tobacco, drank, and ate a lot of red meat and whole milk. By this it is obvious that his lifestyle played a major part of the disease, however to be the exact same age of your father and die of the same diagnosis, one has to question, could genetics have played a role in this outcome? Since she has known about this disease in her family history and then having to experience her losses, she has made it a priority in her life to make good healthy choices, after smoking for many years she decided to quit, and has chosen to exercise, eat healthy, and making sure that her internal numbers are at good levels, such as her HDL, and LDL cholesterol levels. To understand better the role that genetics play I had to do some research.
Since heart disease is the number one leading cause of deaths in the united states it would be nice to have a better understanding of what "heart disease," actually is. First it is important to know the the main function of the heart is to pump blood to all of the major organs of the body. There are four chambers two to pump the blood out and the other two to hold the blood that returns to the heart. The heart receives all of the blood supply through three coronary arteries. When these arteries become built up with a fat, they can cause the arteries to become clogged, which eventually can lead to a heart attack.
To further understand and become familiar on how greatly genetics influenced heart disease, I had to do a little research. I began my search and came across a youtube video on genetics and heart disease, which if anyone is interested in viewing it is very informative on how genetics influence heart disease. The website is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cW8__wFXDA. I had also found out that we are able to have a "decode me" done, which would tell us as an individual of our DNA genes. This would better inform us on whether or not we carry certain genes that influence heart disease. Anyone can have this done at www.decodeme.com. While there are so many resources along with information, I do believe that it is equally important to live a healthy lifestyle, which includes exercise, eating healthy, along with avoiding tobacco and too much alcohol. And of course there are medications that can help with heart disease, and then there are surgeries as well that are done if neccessary. But It will be interesting to see what the future has for further preventing of this disease.
While my wife never met her grandfather and lost her father at a young age, this has opened her eyes to the importance of preventing this disease in being a part of her life. I hope this story will encourage people to get informed about there internal numbers and choose to live a healthy life. The best location to look in order to be clearly informed on heart disease would be the American Heart Association (www.heart.org).
Since heart disease is the number one leading cause of deaths in the united states it would be nice to have a better understanding of what "heart disease," actually is. First it is important to know the the main function of the heart is to pump blood to all of the major organs of the body. There are four chambers two to pump the blood out and the other two to hold the blood that returns to the heart. The heart receives all of the blood supply through three coronary arteries. When these arteries become built up with a fat, they can cause the arteries to become clogged, which eventually can lead to a heart attack.
To further understand and become familiar on how greatly genetics influenced heart disease, I had to do a little research. I began my search and came across a youtube video on genetics and heart disease, which if anyone is interested in viewing it is very informative on how genetics influence heart disease. The website is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cW8__wFXDA. I had also found out that we are able to have a "decode me" done, which would tell us as an individual of our DNA genes. This would better inform us on whether or not we carry certain genes that influence heart disease. Anyone can have this done at www.decodeme.com. While there are so many resources along with information, I do believe that it is equally important to live a healthy lifestyle, which includes exercise, eating healthy, along with avoiding tobacco and too much alcohol. And of course there are medications that can help with heart disease, and then there are surgeries as well that are done if neccessary. But It will be interesting to see what the future has for further preventing of this disease.
While my wife never met her grandfather and lost her father at a young age, this has opened her eyes to the importance of preventing this disease in being a part of her life. I hope this story will encourage people to get informed about there internal numbers and choose to live a healthy life. The best location to look in order to be clearly informed on heart disease would be the American Heart Association (www.heart.org).