What are the preventive measures for heart disease?

The core of heart disease prevention has never been to rely on expensive health products or extreme lifestyles, but to control the core controllable factors of diet, exercise, work and rest, and basic disease management for a long time, so that more than 80% of the risk of premature disease can be avoided.

Last week at the community free clinic, I met Uncle Zhang who had just completed a re-examination. Last year's physical examination showed that his coronary artery was 30% blocked. At that time, he was still confused. He said that except for drinking a few sips and staying up late at night playing mahjong, he didn't feel any discomfort. How could it be related to heart disease? In fact, situations like his are very common. Many people think that heart disease is far away from them, and they have to wait until the chest feels tight and painful before taking it seriously. By then, most of the atherosclerotic plaque in the blood vessels has been blocked, making intervention troublesome.

When many people hear that they need to protect their hearts, their first reaction is either to go vegetarian or to stock up on coenzyme Q10 and deep-sea fish oil. In fact, it is really unnecessary. As for the matter of going vegan, there are always different views in the academic community. Some studies believe that long-term going vegan can lower blood lipid levels and reduce the probability of plaque formation. There are also many clinical data showing that if ordinary people blindly go vegan and completely reject high-quality proteins such as eggs and milk, they will be prone to lack of B vitamins, which will affect the repair of vascular endothelium and increase the risk of disease. I once met an aunt who has been a vegetarian for three years. Her triglycerides are higher than those of people who eat meat every day. When I asked her, I found out that she puts two tablespoons of vegetable oil every day and eats deep-fried vegetarian foods such as fried dough sticks and vegetarian meatballs every day. To put it bluntly, regardless of whether she eats meat or vegetarian, the total calories Exceeding the standard and excessive intake of oil and salt are the core reasons for the accumulation of "grease" in blood vessels. Usually, eat more whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and eat deep-sea fish two or three times a week. It doesn't matter if you eat fatty meat and processed meat occasionally to satisfy your cravings. Just control the amount.

After talking about eating, talk about exercise. Don’t be superstitious about the sayings of “walking 10,000 steps a day” and “high-intensity exercise is effective.” There used to be a young man who sat in the office every day and ran a half-marathon on a whim on the weekend. This directly induced myocarditis and sent him to the emergency room. Instead, it caused irreversible damage to the heart. Ordinary people don't actually need to force themselves to do high-intensity exercise. They usually walk two more stops to and from get off work, go downstairs for a half-hour walk after dinner, play badminton and dance square dance on weekends. As long as the heart rate is faster than resting and you can sweat slightly, if you stick to it for a long time, the benefits to your heart will be much greater than your occasional burst of exercise.

There are also work, rest and emotions that many people ignore. If you stay up until two or three o'clock every day to check your mobile phone, your sympathetic nerves will be stretched all the time, and your blood pressure will fluctuate up and down to stimulate your blood vessels. This will be much more harmful than eating hot pot occasionally. I met a retired old professor before. He always controlled his diet and exercise impeccably, but he was short-tempered. Last year, he stayed up several nights and got angry several times because of his grandson's choice of school, which directly caused a heart attack and sent him to the emergency room. It was really a pity.

If you have an immediate relative in your family who has been diagnosed with coronary heart disease or myocardial infarction before the age of 50, or has basic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, and is a high-risk group for heart disease, don’t wait until you feel pain and boredom before going for a check-up. Regularly conduct an electrocardiogram and blood lipids every year. If necessary, do a coronary CT screening. Early detection of small problems and early intervention is better than installing a stent after most of the plaque is blocked.

In fact, when it comes down to it, there are really no flashy tips for protecting the heart. It’s just to stick to these little things that everyone thinks are “too simple”. Don’t always think that you can do whatever you want because you are young and in good health. By the time there is a real heart problem and you call the police, it is often already too late.