Zachary Russo
MOV 495
Dr. Sherman
3/28/15
Literature Review
Background
Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque builds up inside your arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to your heart and other parts of your body. Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood. Over time plaque hardens and narrows your arteries. This limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your organs and other parts of your body. Atherosclerosis can lead to serious problems, including heart attack, stroke, or even death. When atherosclerosis affects the arteries of the heart it is known as coronary artery disease. Some facts about atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease are more than 15,800,000
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With medication and lifestyle changes, plaques may slow or stop growing. They may even shrink slightly with aggressive treatment. Reducing the lifestyle risk factors that lead to atherosclerosis will slow or stop the process. That means a healthy diet, exercise, and no smoking. These lifestyle changes won't remove blockages, but they’re proven to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Taking drugs for high cholesterol and high blood pressure will slow and perhaps even halt the progression of atherosclerosis, as well as lower your risk of heart attacks and stroke (3). Atherosclerosis starts early. In autopsies of young American soldiers killed in action in the Korean and Vietnam wars, half to three-quarters had early forms of atherosclerosis. Even today, a large number of asymptomatic young people have evidence of atherosclerosis. A 2001 study of 262 apparently healthy people's hearts may might surprise you. 52% had some atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis was present in 85% of those older than 50.17% of teenagers had atherosclerosis. No one had symptoms, and very few had severe narrowing’s in any arteries. This was very early disease, detectable only by special tests. If you are 40 and generally healthy, you have about a 50% chance of developing serious atherosclerosis in your lifetime. The risk goes up as you get older. The majority of adults …show more content…
These treatments also have improved the quality of life for people who have these diseases. However, atherosclerosis remains a common health problem.You may be able to prevent or delay atherosclerosis and the diseases it can cause. Making lifestyle changes and getting ongoing care can help you avoid the problems of atherosclerosis and live a long, healthy life. There is no cure for atherosclerosis, but treatment can slow or halt the worsening of the disease. The major treatment goal is to prevent significant narrowing of the arteries so that symptoms never develop and vital organs are never damaged. The conclusions that have been drawn about prevention of atherosclerosis appear to be favored by resistance training. There was quite a few pieces of literature that supported resistance training as a means of preventing or at worst reducing the progression of atherosclerosis. However, aerobic training also had supported research in the prevention or prolonging of atherosclerosis. The downside to aerobic training is that is seems to only improve the risk factors that are associated with atherosclerosis, not necessarily help degenerate the disease or damage done by the disease. It also appears that the combination of resistance training and aerobic training is the best combination to battle atherosclerosis. When combined it appears there is a decrease in the progression rate of the
Harvard Medical Group “Best medicine: The science of exercise shows benefits beyond weight …..loss.” Harvard Heart Letter. 23(11) (2013) 6
An artery is an elastic blood vessel that transports blood away from the heart. There are two main types of arteries: pulmonary arteries and systemic arteries.
LDL or bad cholesterol comes from food that is a high source of cholesterol and/or saturated fats. Plaque forms when bad or LDL cholesterol builds up in your bloodstream and attaches to the arterial wall, as more LDL builds up the plaque becomes larger, this can become a major problem for your cardiovascular system. Because plaque is a substance that has rough edges, it reduces the elastic nature of the artery which means your heart will have to work double-time to pump the necessary blood to all your limbs, that will mean your limbs won’t get the amount of oxygen that they require to function properly. Plaque can also narrow the area blood has to pass through, this means your heart has to work overtime and overall capacity of your cardiovascular system is lowered. When the LDL cholesterol embeds itself in the wall of the artery it than damages the artery then blood pressure expands it which causes an aneurysm. When an aneurysm is too weak there is a high possibility of it bursting, when that happens it leaves the cells in and around that area without oxygen. If that artery is connected to a major vital organ the person will most likely die. When the blood flow is slowed it shows a greater risk for blood clots and although blood clots are natural and important to healing broken blood vessels, if blood clots gather inside the blood vessel this proves to be a serious health risk. The clots have the possibility to get stuck and completely cut off the blood flow to cells, leaving them without oxygen and causing them to die. If a clot gets inside a blood vessel connected to a major organ this could cause the person to die. The heart is fed by the coronary artery, if plaque or a blood clot blocks off blood flow to the heart, the heart ...
Why do we need to exercise? With out exercise many of our bodies arteries in the cardiovascular system can become clogged and bring on much unwanted cardiovascular diseases. Exercising regularly helps us maintain a healthy weight if already fi...
Although atherosclerosis affects millions of people around the world, there are many ways to prevent and treat it once it has developed. Simple life style changes can greatly reduce the inflammation and damage to the endothelial wall of the artery. It is very important that people who have high blood pressure or diabetes get regular checkups; if atherosclerosis goes untreated, the adverse effects, such as stroke or myocardial infarction can be deadly.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of multifactorial chronic heart disease. It is a consequence of plaque buildup in coronary arteries. The arterial blood vessels, which begin out smooth and elastic become narrow and rigid, curtailing blood flow resulting in deprived of oxygen and nutrients to the heart [1].
Coronary heart disease is defined by the hardening of the epicardial coronary arteries. The buildup of plaque in the arteries slowly narrows the coronary artery lumen. In order to better understand the physiology of the disease, it is important to first know the basic anatomy of the human heart. The aorta, located in the superior region of the heart, branches off into two main coronary blood vessels, otherwise known as arteries. The arteries are located on the left and right side of the heart and span its surface. They subsequently branch off into smaller arteries which supply oxygen-rich blood to the entire heart (Texas Heart Institute, 2013). Therefore, the narrowing of these arteries due to plaque buildup significantly impairs blood flow throughout the heart.
Atherosclerosis is the culprit behind coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, which is the most common cause of death worldwide and in the United States10. Among the modifiable risk factors of CHD and stroke is the serum low density lipoprotein level (LDL)8, 11. Several randomized clinical trials have established that reducing the serum LDL level results in a reduction in the future risk of CHD and stroke in a linear relationship, in one study it was estimated that reducing the LDL by 1 % would reduce the risk by 1.7 %.1-4, 7, 9, 13
As according to the CDC both heart disease and type two diabetes are at a higher risk if coupled with obesity. The very best way to prevent obesity is proper diet and exercise. Exercise does not just mean going to the gym and lifting weights or attempting to build muscle, but rather do cardio workouts. Cardio work outs are the best way to prevent both heart disease and obesity. This involves running, walking, swimming and even bike riding. The primary goal is to get a persons heart rate to increase under the weight and restraint of a persons body. Building to much muscle can be unhealthy later in life if it is not maintained, as it can waste away into excess weight. Walking and doing mild exercise even into older life is also helpful in preventing heart disease. The CDC claims at least 150 minutes of exercise a week will help weight loss and help type II diabetes prevention (The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). A diet should be well balanced, this is not a short term solution to lose weight, but is a life style choice to promote a persons well being. High sugar diet and processed fats should be avoided. A person should increase vegetable and fruit food options, and avoid fried food. It is important to maintain good cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as being out of the normal range will increase a persons risk for type II diabetes and heart disease
Atherosclerosis is the most common cause of CAD. Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease characterized by fat deposits in the arteries causing them to block the normal passage of blood. No one is quite sure how atherosclerosis develops. The plaque consists mostly of cholesterol, phospholipids and smooth muscle cells. They also reduce the size of the lumen of the affected artery which impairs the blood flow of this artery and later on could form a thrombus that will completely occlude the vessel. “Unfortunately, signs and symptoms of atherosclerosis usually don’t develop until at least 70% of an artery’s lumen has become obstructed. Angina is almost always the first symptom to appear.”(Journal: The killer behind CAD,2010). Modifiable factors that could prevent the occurrence of CAD include cigarette smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, atherogenic diet like diet high in cholesterol, use of contraceptive and hormone therapy replacement. “Women continue to ...
There are preventive measures that can be taken to prevent coronary heart disease. Go to the doctor and get a regularly routine checkup. Mainly have a healthy lifestyle by having a healthy diet; this diet should include a low salt intake, whole grain foods, low fat/ fat free diary, meats (lean), fruits , vegetables, nuts, and water. Also physical activities or being active decrease the chances of getting CHD.
Thompson, P. D., Buchner, D., Pina, I. L., Balady, G. J., Williams, M. A., Marcus, B. H., ... Wenger, N. K. (2003). Exercise in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a statement from the Council on Clinical Cardiology. Journal of the American Heart Association, 3110-3116. http://dx.doi.org/doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000075572.40158.77
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most common types of heart diseases. In the United States, CAD is the leading cause of death in both men and women. The disease occurs when a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside the coronary artery. The coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to your heart muscles. Both of my grandfathers suffer from coronary artery disease and I want to learn more about the disease to better understand how it affects them both mentally and physically.
“With the exception of nutrition, more fallacies exist in the area of exercise than in any other area of health” (Dintiman, Stone, Pennington, & Davis, 1984). Exercise produces significant physical and mental benefits and is extremely vital to life. It substantially improves stamina, strengthens and tones muscles, helps prevent diseases, enhances flexibility, controls weight, and prolongs the quality of life. In order to gain all the benefits from exercise and be truly healthy, it is very important to understand and take action with both types of exercise: anaerobic and aerobic. With the combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise, an individual will greatly increase their overall health and wellness significantly.
Exercise is often thought of in a positive light. It is common belief in today’s society that a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine will lead to a long, healthy life. And in the simplest sense of the word, it will.