Coronary artery disease remains the largest killer in the Western World despite significant advances in our understanding, diagnosis and management of the condition. Most importantly, a large amount of potential suffering could be reduced with attention to simple maintenance. So, what can you do to reduce your risk of a heart attack?
This article was provided by Dr Warrick Bishop, an experienced practicing cardiologist and author of “Have You Planned Your Heart Attack?”, for more information click here.
Make a decision. Decide to look after your heart health. This is important, it is easy to say you’ll do this and do that but unless you make a decision and then a commit to follow through, you are kidding yourself, and this won’t help you.
Go and see your general practitioner Not only will your local Doctor check your blood pressure, blood sugar, lipid profile (cholesterol levels) and an eye to general state of health (how’s that tummy?), they will also provide the guidance you need to head you in the right direction and then most importantly, bring you back for follow up and this means accountability.
Make small sustainable changes, there is no point turning your life on it’s head to go from Couch Potato to Olympian. If the changes are not sustainable, then you wont sustain them! Look to small changes by degree with you local Doc guiding you as to best bang for your buck in terms of effort.
Just do it. If you are advised to change lifestyle or take tablets, it will be because your doctor believes it will make a difference to your health, so do it!
Ask the experts. If you have questions or are unsure about advice, seek out your local doctor for a sensible consultation and discussion, and do this sooner rather than later. My experience is that more and more patients these days seek help from “Doctor Google” – the information can be biased and there is no way to make sure it is relevant for you as an individual. Get good advice and it will pay dividends for the rest of your life. You can easily find a local doctor using doctors.com.au’s search.
Need more information? Modern technology has evolved to now allow us to look at the arteries of the heart in a “non-invasive” way (meaning not needing any cutting) using CT (or CAT) scanning. This is fairly new and not part of any formalised guidelines in Australia. The test however does provide extra information in certain situations and may then be useful for the individual and doctor involved to tailor care.
Live as well as possible for as long as possible. The years fly by so, make the most of them. Keep active, keep a healthy weight, keep in contact with your local doctor and work on your best health because, as we all know, “prevention is better than cure”.
