Cardiovascular Health

7 Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Diseases and How to Tackle Them with Lifestyle Choices

Millions of people are at risk of heart disease and stroke, but with a healthy lifestyle, we can decrease those risks and prevent disorders from occurring.

Why do cardiovascular diseases matter?

Undoubtedly, cardiovascular diseases cause death and suffering to millions of people globally. For example, CDC (Centers for Disease Control) ranked heart disease as #1 in position. They affect both men and women.

Globally, 17.9 million die from cardiovascular diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Around 659,000 people in the US die from heart disease each year.

In fact, one person dies every 36 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease, according to CDC.

In this 2018 BMC systematic review paper, “the total economic loss due to cardiovascular diseases in low and middle-income countries was estimated to amount to $3.7 trillion between 2011 and 2015.”

What are cardiovascular diseases?

There are multiple conditions within the cardiovascular disease category. The most common ones are heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmia. The main culprit has been the clogged arteries that I introduce in section #1.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “Cardiovascular disease is the term for all types of diseases that affect the heart or blood vessels, including coronary heart disease, which can cause heart attacks, stroke, congenital heart defects, and peripheral artery disease.”

According to American Heart Association, “if a blood clot forms, it can block the blood flow. This buildup narrows the arteries, making it harder for blood to flow through. This can cause a heart attack or stroke.”

AHA refers to atherosclerosis which I will cover in the next section.

However, I’d like to highlight the gender profile for cardiovascular diseases globally. For example, as documented in this BMJ paper:

“Men generally develop cardiovascular disease at a younger age and have a higher risk of coronary heart disease than women. However, women, in contrast, are at a higher risk of stroke, which often occurs at an older age.”

The good news, according to the paper, “cardiovascular disease and stroke mortality decreased substantially in most countries, in both sexes.”

1 — Atherosclerosis (Increased Plaque in Arteries)

One of the critical patterns of cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis. Therefore, it is considered a root cause of these diseases.

Atherosclerosis refers to the process of plaque building up in the walls of the arteries. Increased plaque narrows the arteries. As a result, it makes blood flow harder, causing stroke or heart attack.

Atherosclerosis is a crucial term for understanding the root causes of cardiovascular diseases. We need to find efficient ways to prevent the formation of plaques building in the walls of the arteries.

Even though “many different drugs are available to slow — or even reverse — the effects of atherosclerosis,” as pointed out by Mayo Clinic, my focus is on lifestyle habits in this article.

One of the viable solutions to decrease the risk of cardiovascular diseases is to strengthen the heart by undertaking moderate exercise, eating optimal nutrition, getting restorative sleep, reducing stress, refraining from toxins, and addressing chronic inflammation and infections.

Lifestyle Modifications

Lifestyle choices might prevent or slow the formation of atherosclerosis. For example, according to Mayo Clinic, the following five lifestyle modifications can help:

1 — Stop smoking.

2 — Exercise regularly.

3 — Maintain a healthy weight.

4 — Eat healthy foods.

5 — Manage stress.

In addition, excessive alcohol use and drug abuse are mentioned in the literature as indirect risk factors.

Nitric Oxide Production

A functional molecule to address plague building is nitric oxide. I introduced it in an article titled Three Tips to Boost Nitric Oxide and Lower Heart Disease/Stroke Risks.

The role of nitric oxide in cardiovascular diseases is specific and powerful. This simple gas can keep the circulatory system healthy and lower the risks of cardiovascular diseases.

So nitric oxide’s main contribution is maintaining healthy blood flow and providing needed oxygen, in various body parts, including the heart and brain.

Furthermore, nitric oxide can regulate blood pressure, serve as a communication tool in brain cells, and support the defense system to combat pathogens.

Valuable Supplements

I provided information on a natural supplement to contribute to nitric oxide production titled L-Citrulline Malate: Six Health Benefits Based on Science and Two Decades of Experience.

Besides, as recommended by a cardiologist friend, I started using CoQ10 after 55 years of age as a preventative measure for cardiovascular diseases.

I documented my reviews and experience of this valuable molecule in an article titled Why I Take 100 Mg CoQ10 [Ubiquinol] Daily.

2 — Elevated Homocysteine Levels

Homocysteine is a sulfur amino acid existing in our bloodstream. It is a metabolite of methionine which is another amino acid. Elevated plasma homocysteine is called hyperhomocysteinemia in the literature.

This amino acid is processed by folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 to create other biochemicals in the bloodstream. In addition, energy production in mitochondria seems to cause the effects.

Usually, between five to fifteen micromoles per liter (mcmol/L) of homocysteine is considered normal for healthy individuals.

However, if it gets higher than 50 mcmol/L for a prolonged time, it can damage the lining of arteries, cause blood clots or blood vessel blockages, and impact the oxygenation of the cells in the body.

The contributing risk factors are vitamin deficiencies caused by folate, B6, and B12, existing heart conditions, and genetics.

The genetic factor known as homocystinuria is a rare condition. People having this condition cannot process the amino acid methionine properly.

The risks of elevated homocysteine levels are blood clots, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis, and dementia.

For interested readers, I provided my research and perspectives on homocysteine in an article titled Why High Homocysteine Levels Matter and How to Optimize Them.

As TMG is a well-documented supplement to optimize homocysteine, I introduced it in an article titled Here’s How TMG Supplementation Might Improve Four Health Conditions.

3 — High Triglycerides and High Blood Pressure

Triglycerides are fat molecules that mainly come from our food. They are energy sources for the body, like sugar. The body needs both triglycerides and sugar to energize cells.

As soon as the body digests foods from macronutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, triglycerides from the calories of these foods circulate in the bloodstream. Then they are used as energy by our cells.

Even though the body can immediately use them when energy is needed by our cells, especially muscles, they are also stored as fat molecules when we have excessive calories.

Hypertriglyceridemia is a critical cardiovascular health risk. It refers to elevated triglycerides in the bloodstream for a prolonged time. High cholesterol (LDL) and elevated triglycerides are together known as high hyperlipidemia.

People often confuse triglycerides with cholesterol. They are two different lipids and play different roles in our metabolism. One fuels the body, and the other serves as a building block.

For example, the body uses triglycerides as an energy source. However, the body uses cholesterol to build/maintain cells and hormones. I cover cholesterol in section #7.

Medical doctor Ken Berry highlights that triglycerides are mainly caused by eating high amounts of refined carbs in this video. He asserts that healthy fats do not cause an elevation of triglycerides.

For interested readers, I documented my research and perspectives on this important risk factor in an article titled Why High Triglyceride Levels Matter and How to Optimize Them.

It will be useful to monitor our blood pressure at home and get advice when we notice consistent high blood pressure readings. Lifestyle factors might lower it. However, some people might need medication prescribed by qualified healthcare professionals.

For some people, too low blood pressure can also be a problem. Therefore, we need to monitor blood pressure regularly and seek help when needed.

4 — Chronic Stress

Chronic stress is the root cause of many ailments. Unfortunately, minor stressors can accumulate and lead to a chronic state if they are not addressed. Stress affects the body at the genetic level.

In short, physical and psychological stress can change our DNA and RNA. However, we can affect our genes with lifestyle choices especially using the power of the mind.

We cannot survive and grow without stress. It is essential. Nevertheless, how we deal with stress is critical. For example, expressing our emotions is a way of managing our stress.

The body uses various hormones to manage stress. The major one is the cortisol hormone. The more stress we have, the more cortisol is created. When cortisol is released, we feel good and work harder.

However, when cortisol levels get elevated, this hormone can disrupt other metabolic hormones like insulin, causing visceral fat gain.

Thus we need to get our cortisol levels checked. If the levels are too high, we need corrective actions guided by qualified healthcare professionals such as endocrinologists and psychiatrists.

Healthy lifestyle habits can prevent the accumulation of stress and lower chronic stress. Even though lifestyle habits can contribute to reducing stress, some of us might need medication or therapies to address chronic stress.

By improving our sleep, eating more nutrient-dense foods, exercising, recovering fully after each workout, resting, and having fun, we can deal with stress more effectively. One key point is dealing with micro-stressors timely.

Oxidative stress lead to chronic inflammation, which I will cover in the next section.

5 — Chronic Inflammation

After stress, I focus on inflammation as they are tightly coupled. For example, reducing stress can decrease inflammation. Likewise, reducing inflammation can lower stress.

Like stress, our bodies also need inflammation in an adequate amount to heal from infections and injuries. This essential process is called acute inflammation. Nonetheless, the problem arises when acute inflammation accumulates and becomes chronic.

An excessive amount of inflammation might promote the growth of plagues. In addition, it can loosen plaque in the arteries and trigger blood clots, as documented in this source.

When a blood clot blocks an artery to the heart, we have a heart attack. However, if the blood clot clogs an artery to the brain, we experience a stroke. Healthy lifestyle habits can contribute to decreasing chronic inflammation.

The critical points are controlling blood sugar, making the body more insulin sensitive, reducing visceral fat, personalized workouts, customized nutrition cutting inflammatory food, and getting enough restorative sleep.

Despite good habits, some of us might need anti-inflammatory medication. Thus getting our inflammation markers checked and obtaining a corrective plan from qualified healthcare professionals is essential.

For interested readers, I documented my experience and research in an article titled Here’s How I Defeated Chronic Inflammation via 9 Lifestyle Habits.

6 — Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Syndrome

As metabolic disorders are close to my heart, I wrote numerous articles about them. I call insulin resistance the elephant in the room. Scientific studies highlight the effects of insulin resistance on metabolic disorders.

Mainly fixing insulin resistance can rectify metabolic issues and significantly lower the rate of obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, some cancers, and neurodegenerative disorders.

As I provided practical tips on fixing insulin resistance, I will not delve into those details in this story. Interested readers might start with this story titled Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline. I also introduced the paradox of sugar.

I also shared my personal experience of insulin resistance in a recent article titled Here’s Why I Got Insulin Resistance in My Early 20s and How I Fixed It in 7 Steps.

In summary, changing the fuel source for my body significantly impacted getting rid of insulin resistance, improving energy utilization, and making my body insulin sensitive. This protocol initiated ketosis and enabled my body to get fat adapted.

7 — High LDL Cholesterol

Out of the items mentioned above, cholesterol is the most complex one. It appears to be not the root cause of cardiovascular diseases, but it can be a risk factor for those who already have the condition. Therefore I left it to the end for awareness purposes.

Cholesterol is essential for the body. Every cell needs it for various purposes. However, there has been a misconception that dietary fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. Fortunately, this hypothesis, misinforming the public, was debunked thanks to diligent scientists.

For example, as Dr. Zoe Harcombe, Ph.D., mentions, “There’s no connection whatsoever between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in the blood. None. And we’ve known that all along. Cholesterol in the diet doesn’t matter at all unless you happen to be a chicken or a rabbit.”

In addition, many scientific documents such as this paper inform that “the French Paradox refers to the very low incidence of mortality rates from ischaemic heart disease in France even though saturated fat intakes, serum cholesterol, blood pressure, and smoking prevalence are no lower there than elsewhere.”

In ten minutes, this medical doctor makes the cholesterol paradox crystal clear in a YouTube video titled “Cholesterol is NOT the cause of heart disease. I’ll prove it.”

While investigating the topic, cholesterol seemed to be only one of many risk factors for heart disease. There were more important factors, such as smoking, chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, physical inactivity, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.

It did not make sense to me why some scientists ignored all those risk factors and only focussed on saturated fats and cholesterol. Finally, in the first year of my doctoral studies, I found the answer in an advanced research methodology class.

I summarized my research, experience, and perspectives on cholesterol in an article titled Here’s the Cholesterol Paradox and How It Impacted My Health Positively. I also documented the sugar paradox that has an impact on cardiovascular health. Both paradoxes have hormonal implications.

My goal is not to undermine LDL cholesterol’s effects on people with cardiovascular disorders. It is a real risk for those having the condition, and we need to be careful. My focus is on the problem of the wrong hypotheses, which were corrected by diligent scientists and medical professionals in many published papers.

Importance of Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

I’d like to add this critical point is understanding HRV can contribute to improving our heart health and overall health.

Heart rate variability is biofeedback indicating the amount of time and variation between heartbeats. The time between the beats constantly changes depending on biological and psychological reactions in the body and mind.

This paper informs that “HRV is an emergent property of complex cardiac-brain interactions and non-linear autonomic nervous system processes.”

As highlighted in the paper, “a healthy heart is not a metronome because it exhibits complex non-linear oscillations characterized by mathematical chaos.”

Low HRV scores indicate the formation of disorders in the body and mind. Therefore, HRV biofeedback enables us to adjust our physiology to improve our cardiovascular and cognitive functioning.

Heart rate changes based on what we do at a specific time. For example, when we’re sitting or lying down heart rate slows. When we move or get excited, it beats faster. Heart rate variability shows a pattern for the biological needs of the body.

Since the fluctuations between heartbeats are in milliseconds, it is impossible to detect them with our senses. However, technology made this capability available to us.

Heart rate variability can decrease as we get older. Nevertheless, we can improve it with various approaches, as I explained in an article titled Here’s Why I Envision the Key to Good Health Resides Between the Spaces of Our Heartbeats.

Conclusions and Takeaways

These seven items covered in the story are closely related to our lifestyle choices. Even though genetics plays a role, our lifestyle habits can make a real difference in reducing the risks of cardiovascular diseases.

From my literature reviews, apart from genetic defects, the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are inflammation, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, and type II diabetes, weakening heart and brain arteries.

While blocked arteries of the heart cause heart diseases, blocked arteries of the brain cause stroke. So heart and brain health are closely related. In addition to genetics, heart disease and stroke also are related to our sex.

By focusing on fundamentals like restorative sleep, nutrient-dense food, refraining from empty calories, performing regular exercises (including moderate cardio and resistance training), recovering after exercising by resting, protecting from toxins, and reducing stress and inflammation, we can significantly reduce the risks of cardiovascular diseases.

Interestingly some cardiologists also recommend time-restricted eating to reduce the risks of cardiovascular diseases. The reason behind this approach is fasting can make the body more insulin sensitive and initiate autophagy. With this inspiration, I made one meal a day eating regimen a lifestyle choice.

Using some supplements might improve cardiovascular health. I specifically mentioned nitric oxide-producing amino acids like arginine and citrulline malate. I also use CoQ10. There may be other supplements too. So please discuss this with your family doctor or cardiologist.

Before starting supplements, it is necessary to obtain advice and support from qualified healthcare professionals, as some supplements might have side effects and interfere with some medications.

I am excited to know that improving our heart health can also enhance brain health. Furthermore, our brain health can contribute to mental health by preventing neurodegenerative diseases. Thus I believe that metabolic and mental health are closely interrelated.

To raise awareness, in addition to cardiovascular diseases, I compiled the risks of major diseases and preventing them with healthy lifestyle habits in a recent article titled Reduce the Risks of Major Diseases with Healthy Lifestyle Habits.

The key takeaway of this article is to pay attention to our lifestyle choices and choose them wisely to lower the risks of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, we need to get checked our blood sugar, blood pressure, and lipids regularly.

Understanding HRV and improving it can help. More importantly, seeking timely support from qualified healthcare professionals is crucial.

As a practical tip, asking these four powerful questions daily and acting mindfully might improve our health and overall well-being.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

If you are a new reader and find this article valuable, you might check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of sensible experiments.

Sample Health Improvement Articles for New Readers

I write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.

One of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.

To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.

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