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A brief introduction to cardiovascular diseases


Every now and then, we come across terms like ‘cardiovascular’ and ‘cardiac’. Although we do take their face value for the dangerous things that they represent, very few of us fully understand what cardiovascular diseases are. All of us recognize the terms such as ‘Heart attack’, ‘Heart Failure’, ‘Coronary artery disease’, and ‘stroke’, but few would know that these diseases are collectively a part of what is called Cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiology is actually a branch of medicine that deals with the problems and disorders of heart and some parts of the circulatory system. Most of these problems have to do with the blood vessels and the heart. The complexity and seriousness of these diseases can be estimated by the fact that World Health Organization has recognized cardiac diseases as the leading cause of death in the world.

The first thing to know about cardiac ailments is that the people suffering from diseases like diabetes and hypertension are more prone to catch a cardiovascular disease than the average human being. In case of such people, expert supervision and early detection is required for effective recovery.

Keep the risks in mind :

For a layman, it is important to keep the risk factors of these serious ailments in mind. By understanding the risk factors, one increases the possibility of identifying these diseases early on and thus, preventing them. Some of the main factors that you should be aware of are:

  • High blood pressure
  • Physical inactivity
  • Excessive consumption of tobacco/alcohol
  • Hereditary factors
  • Unhealthy diet
  • High level of cholesterol
  • Age
Symptoms:

When it comes to a layman, until he has a heart attack, he would not believe that there is something wrong with his heart. It is a basic human tendency to never expect something bad to happen to himself. However, the first step towards getting rid of cardiovascular or any disease is accepting that it can happen to anyone. Therefore, one should always have an eye for symptoms like:

  • Sudden pain in chest at times
  • Restlessness
  • Headache every now and then
  • Problem in breathing
  • Fainting, fatigue
  • Speech impairment
  • Headache
  • Discomfort in back, arms, elbows, and shoulders