Heart Attack – Symptoms, Causes and How to Defeat It

Heart attack has become a common health problem across the USA. This article sheds lights to what heart-attack is along with its symptoms, causes and how to defeat this growing menace. 

What Is Heart-Attack?

You wake up in the morning and discover an indomitable pain on your chest. You may consider it as an acute indigestion problem. However, in reality, it may a grave sign of a heart related problem. It may cause a heart attack.

More than a million Americans suffer heart attacks in each year. Heart Attack or in medical terminology “Myocardial Infarction (MI)” simply means permanent damage to heart muscle. “Myo” refers to muscle and “cardial” to heart and "infarction" suggests the death of tissue in heart due to lack of blood supply.
However, before knowing what heart-attack is, you should also know how your heart functions.

How Heart Functions?

Heart is muscle. It is situated on the left of the centre in the chest and size of a clenched fist. There are four chambers in a heart – top two called atria and bottom two called ventricles. Heart pumps blood to lungs to receive oxygen and then pump it around the body. Oxygen-poor blood comes to heart through veins and arteries, enters to the right atrium and forwards to right ventricle through a one-way valve. Then it is sent to lungs for collecting oxygen. After collecting oxygen, blood returns to heart through left atrium. It then goes via another one-way valve to the left part of ventricle and then pumped around the body via aorta.

What Are The Symptoms Of Heart-Attack?

It will be really tough for an ordinary person to understand which one is heart attack and which one is not.  But you can always gauge heart attacks considering some symptoms. There are various symptoms that may constitute as heart attacks. These are:

•    Irregular pain or discomfort in the central of the chest, or stays for more than a few minutes
•    Pain or discomfort in either arm, or both arms
•    Back pain, stomach ache, discomfort in neck & jaw
•    Shortness of breathing.
•    Nausea, cold sweats or feeling light-headed.

However, it is advisable to visit a medical practitioner, if you are witnessing any of the above mentioned symptoms.

Causes of Heart-Attacks

Heart is a complex organ. This complexity can cause many problems. The below-list reveals some of the many problems that cause heart attacks.

•    Atherosclerosis (thickening of artery walls)
•    Coronary Heart Disease (plaque blocks arteries, causing blood clots)
•    Fright (heart-attacks during earthquakes)
•    Smoking (presence of toxins in cigarettes narrows the arteries)
•    Diabetes
•    Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Therefore, if you are suffering from one or more of the above health problems then you have a high risk of a heart-attack. In such case, it is better to consult with a medical practitioner.

Exercise Is the Best Way to Beat Heart Related Disease

Many cardiologists have revealed that unfitness is one of the many reasons that cause heart attacks. It is really important to maintain your fitness level to beat heart attacks. Especially, if you are in your sixties and little bit of overweight then it is always advisable to join gym.

However, it is always advisable to visit cardiologists when it comes to heart related problems.