Research Essay

Popham 1 Brody Popham Mr. Rudebusch English Composition IV 7 January 2019 Heart Attacks: Genetic versus Lifestyle According to the American Heart Association, the AMA, “About 2,300 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of 1 death every 38 seconds.” The numbers of Americans that die from a problem that can be solve with a few simple steps is astronomical. Health, especially heart health, is one of the most important thing to stay on top of. Everyone knows that your heart is responsible for keeping you alive, and can either make or break your health in general. A healthy outlook on life can be diminished by many bad habit like not exercising, not eating the correct diet, and having other bad habits like smoking. Once someone is close to having those factors of a heart disease, high blood pressure or obesity, or those that are genetically bound for someone to have a heart disease, the stress and anxiety can skyrocket. This can be a very scary, inevitable feeling, but with the right tools, a heart disease can be fought. Not only can having a heart disease be one of most stressful feeling, but the time it takes to better your health leave you feeling doomed. Even though there are many challenges that one might have to face while trying to better their heart, with working out the correct amount, eating the right foods and the right amount of those food, quitting bad habits such as smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight, anyone can have a healthy heart. Exercising to maintain a healthy weight and healthy heart can not only prevent genetic heart problems, but also turn you in a completely different direction to a healthy lifestyle. This

Popham 2 topic can be very difficult, especially for those that have a busy lifestyle and might not have to required open times to get some exercise in. Though exercising might not be difficult in it of itself, finding the necessary time to achieve this goal might pose a challenge for some. In one of the largest observational studies on fitness and heart disease, researchers examined data collected from nearly a half-million people in the UK Biobank database. They found that people with higher levels of grip strength, physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness had reduced risks of heart attacks and stroke, even if they had a genetic predisposition for heart disease. Through this research, those that had a good handle on their exercise had significant reduced risk factors, even those with a genetic predisposition. Having a genetic predisposition does not mean that those people are doomed and have no hope. Just having a good grip on exercise alone can reduce the severity of a genetic predisposition. Not only should those that have a genetic predisposition increase their exercise time to strengthen their heart, but also those that need a lifestyle adjustment to avoid any heart related diseases. Jeffrey Fisher, MD, a cardiologist, clinical professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and an attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, recommends exercise for people experiencing mild to moderate stress: “When people start to exercise and feel the endorphins, they start to feel better both physically and mentally…. Exercise has also been shown to reduce the risk of death after heart attack.” Those that change their lifestyle aspect to prevent any disease can be beneficial in more than one way. People start to feel better mentally as well as hold back that risk factor of a heart attack. The release of those ‘feel good chemicals’ makes any feel great regardless of what they're doing, and those chemicals are released greatly throughout any exercise process. Not only are

Popham 3 you preventing any heart related disease by altering your lifestyle to include exercise, but you're also mentally helping yourself. Eating healthy not only makes you feel good all around, but it can prevent several genetic diseases as well as any possible predispositions that might arise from an unhealthy lifestyle. While eating healthy is almost never cheaper than swinging through a cheap fast food place, the benefits outweigh the cost tremendously. Finding the time to eat healthy can also be a struggle. It might be faster and easier to warm up a quick frozen meals versus taking the time to make a healthy stir fry, perhaps. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, a nation health protection agency, “The risk for heart disease can increase even more when heredity combines with unhealthy choices, such as eating an unhealthy diet.” Often times if you inherit a predisposition, that problem is already going against you. Those that combine a predisposition, especially one that is inherited, and combine that with unhealthy choices can be a catastrophe. Not only can your health depend on how healthy you food is, but also the process of adjusting the types of food you incorporate in your lifestyle. According to Dr. Jeffrey Fisher, “The quality and quantity of the types of food you put into your body are important," and he recommends that consumers should "Look for foods that are high in nutrients but low in calories.” Without completely changing your diet, a few adjustments can completely turn your unhealthy habits and lifestyle, into new ones that are going to make you feel better. Not only will reducing the quantity, and increasing the quality of your food help just your heart’s health, but also your whole body in general feel good as well as look good.

Popham 4 Breaking a bad habit, like smoking, is another factor in improving your heart health. Like the opening statistic showed, heart related diseases and disorders kill thousands of people every day. Not only can a heart disease can kill someone, but also a bad habit like smoking. The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 7 million people a year. More than 6 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 890 000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to secondhand smoke. According to the World Health Organization, an organization whose role is to direct international health within the United States, Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2008 were in men …. In 2008, heart disease caused almost 25% of deaths—almost one in every four—in the United States. Combining both a genetic predisposition as well as a habit like smoking can be a recipe for a bad disaster. Not only does the bad habit of smoking kill thousands, but also the fact that over a quarter of deaths in just one year were related to smoking. Throughout life many people will obtain bad habits that often stick around and ruin their lifestyle behind the scenes. According to the CDC, “About half of all Americans (47%) have at least one of the three key risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking.” With smoking being one of the three key factors, and 47% of people including one of those key factors in their lifestyle, the chance of getting a heart disease is more likely than not. Bad habits in a lifestyle that can contribute to even more health issues, like smoking, can cause an even more poor quality of life.

Popham 5 Finally, weight can have a huge impact on the general health of your heart. Though it may be hard to lose weight, it is crucial to be able to shed off a few pounds if you are considered overweight. According to Paula Greer, a Midwifery Nurse, “being overweight increases your risks of Heart disease, Hypertension and Diabetes.” Being overweight causes your body to have to work even harder than needed, causing more stress on your heart. Not only can being overweight cause more stress on your heart, but it can lead to other medical complications, like diabetes and hypertension. Combining both the exercise aspect, as well as eating healthy, losing weight can be an easier process than thought to be. The more overweight someone becomes, the more vulnerable their body becomes to complications like higher blood pressure. The higher someone's blood pressure becomes, the more their heart has to work. The more someone's heart has to work, the more wear and tear is experienced. Not only does losing weight make you feel good and look good, losing weight can also better your health in more than one aspect. With working out, eating correctly, breaking bad habits, and maintaining a healthy weight, anyone can have a healthy heart. Though someone can either have a genetic predisposition, or a poor lifestyle decision making skill, anyone can have a healthy heart. Keep in mind that according to the AMA, “About 2,300 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of 1 death every 38 seconds.” That number can easily be anyone within the next minute. Talk to your family and friends and see who is at risk for a possible predisposition and inform them of what needs to be done to turn the odds away from them. The results of doing something good for yourself and heart health can be very rewarding, while not doing anything for your health can be detrimental. The rewarding feeling of having a healthy heart and healthy

Popham 6 lifestyle can contagious, so before you pick up that cupcake, skip your workout session, continue that bad habit, or stop caring about your weight, think about the life that could be lead.

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Works Cited “American Heart Association | To Be a Relentless Force for a World of Longer, Healthier Lives.” ​About Heart Attacks,​ www.heart.org/. “Heart Disease Risk Factors.” ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention​, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/risk_factors.htm. “Heart Disease Statistics.” ​Global,​ www.cardiosmart.org/Heart-Basics/CVD-Stats. “How Does Being Overweight Affect My Heart? | Heart Disease.” ​Sharecare,​ www.sharecare.com/health/heart-disease/heart-affected-by-weight. News Center. “Physical Activity Helps Fight Genetic Risk of Heart Disease.” ​EHR National Symposium​, med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2018/04/physical-activity-helps-fight-genetic-risk-of-hear t-disease.html. Theobald, Mikel. “8 Lifestyle Changes to Protect Your Heart.” ​Stroke Center EverydayHealth.com,​ Ziff Davis, LLC, 14 May 2012, www.everydayhealth.com/hs/heart-disease-risk/lifestyle-changes-protect-heart/.