The leading cause of death among men in the United States is heart disease.
You can’t always outplay your body, but you can take your health into your own hands. Cardiovascular health screenings, sometimes combined with a few minor adjustments to your lifestyle, could help you stay ahead of the curve when it comes to serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses. Please get in touch with Core Medicine today, or stop by our Caldwell urgent care and family practice clinic to request a screening and find out how you could limit your risk.
Cardiovascular Health and Heart Disease
The terms “heart disease” and “cardiovascular disease” don’t refer to any specific illness. Instead, heart disease is a broad term encompassing a fairly wide range of medical conditions, all of which affect the heart and, in some cases, the blood vessels.
People who have early-stage cardiovascular conditions don’t always notice any symptoms. But, on the inside, their body could be fighting a losing battle against itself. As heart disease progresses, any of the following could occur:
- Your blood vessels might narrow or become blocked
- Fat deposits may start to accumulate in your arteries
- Your heart could develop an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia)
Cardiovascular diseases can spread to parts out of the body outside of the cardiovascular system, occasionally causing damage to organs such as the brain, kidneys, and eyes. Heart disease isn’t always fatal, but its progression could signal a heightened risk for medical emergencies, including heart attacks and heart failure.
Assessing Your Risk for Cardiovascular Disease
Age is the leading risk factor for all types of cardiovascular disease, but it isn’t the only one.
While you can’t control anything about your age, some men have risk factors that can be reduced or eliminated outright. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Smoking
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Lack of physical activity
- Being medically obese or overweight
- Having diabetes
This list is by no means exhaustive. In fact, evidence suggests that everything from stress to having one beer too many could put pressure on your cardiovascular system, potentially causing problems long down the line.
How Core Medicine of Idaho Could Help You Take Control of Your Heart Health
A cardiovascular screening is a regular check-up that can help you identify your risk factors and take preventative action in the event that you’ve begun showing the symptoms of an impending heart problem. Most heart screenings don’t take very long to complete, and they are often integrated into routine physicals and regular family practice visits.
The key components of a typical heart screening include:
- Taking your blood pressure. If your blood pressure is high, then you have an elevated risk for heart attack and stroke. You can typically limit the impact of high blood pressure through a combination of lifestyle changes and prescription medication.
- Measuring your cholesterol. All men over the age of 20 benefit from cholesterol screenings, which are often used to estimate short- and long-term risk for heart disease. After you turn 40, you might need take more regular tests, as risk often increases with age.
- Calculating your BMI. People who are overweight or medically obese are more likely than average to experience health problems like heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular failure.
- Assessing your blood glucose levels. If your blood glucose levels are high, you could develop conditions like prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Without treatment, diabetes can seriously and irreparably harm your heart.
Most medical professionals use these types of tests to get a good picture of what’s going on inside your body. However, your blood pressure and cholesterol levels aren’t the only things that factor into your health. At Core Medicine of Idaho, we take men’s cardiovascular health screenings seriously. Instead of just looking at the numbers, we could work with you to find heart-healthy solutions that work best for your age, overall health, and lifestyle.
You don’t have to take chances with your health: a cardiovascular screening lets you know where you stand today, and what you can to do to protect yourself for years to come.