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The heart attack is the interruption of blood flow to the heart that can be caused by the accumulation of fat in the arteries, increased blood pressure and obesity, for example. Learn all about acute myocardial infarction.
The heart attack can happen in men and women, being more common after 40 years of age. To reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack, what you can do is adopt he althy lifestyle habits, such as a balanced diet and regular exercise. Thus, in addition to preventing infarction, other cardiovascular diseases are prevented, such as arrhythmias and mitral insufficiency, for example.
Main causes
Infarction can be caused by obstruction of the blood flow to the heart due to some factors, such as:
1. Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is the main cause of heart attack and is mainly caused by the excessive consumption of foods rich in fat and cholesterol, which favors the formation of fatty plaques inside the arteries, preventing normal blood flow and causing the heart attack. Learn more about the main causes of atherosclerosis.
2. High blood pressure
High blood pressure, also called arterial hypertension, can favor a heart attack because, due to the increase in blood pressure within the arteries, the heart starts to work more, thickening the artery wall and, thus, making it difficult to pass of blood.
High blood pressure can be caused by several factors, such as excessive s alt consumption, obesity, sedentary lifestyle or even be due to some genetic change. See what the symptoms are and how to treat high blood pressure.
3. Diabetes
People with diabetes are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, as atherosclerosis and unhe althy lifestyle habits are usually associated with diabetes, such as unbalanced diet and lack of physical exercise.
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which there is a decrease in insulin production or resistance to its activity in the body, leading to the accumulation of glucose in the blood. Understand what diabetes is and how to treat it.
4. Obesity
Obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, because it is a disease characterized by a sedentary lifestyle and excessive consumption of foods rich in sugar and fat, which favors the development of various diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension, which favor the occurrence of infarction. Learn more about the complications of obesity and how to protect yourself.
5. Smoking
Frequent and constant use of cigarettes can lead to inflammation in the blood vessel wall and consequent stiffening, which makes the heart work harder, favoring infarction, in addition to stroke, thrombosis and aneurysm. In addition, smoking promotes greater absorption of cholesterol and thus stimulates the production of new fat plaques, that is, it favors atherosclerosis. See other diseases caused by smoking.
6. Use of drugs and alcohol
Both the use of illicit drugs and the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages can increase the chances of having a heart attack due to the increase in blood pressure. See what are the effects of alcohol on the body.
Other causes
In addition to the causes already mentioned, a heart attack can also be a consequence of psychological disorders, such as depression or stress, for example, the use of some medications and, especially, a sedentary lifestyle, since it is usually associated with unhe althy eating habits. Check out some tips to get out of a sedentary lifestyle.
Watch the following video and see what you should eat to avoid a heart attack:
Consequences of heart attack
The consequences of a heart attack depend on the severity of the condition. When the infarction affects only a small area of the heart, the possibility of having no consequence is greater, however, in most cases, the main consequence of the infarction is the change in the contraction of the heart muscle, which can be classified as:
- Mild Systolic Dysfunction;
- Moderate systolic dysfunction;
- Severe or major systolic dysfunction.
Other possible consequences of infarction are cardiac arrhythmias or disturbance in the functioning of the mitral valve, causing mitral regurgitation. Understand what mitral regurgitation is.
