According to medical statistics, cerebral atherosclerosis is by far the most common cause of death. Many doctors consider him an insidious enemy of a person, since he may not make himself felt for a long time, and it is extremely difficult to diagnose him in the early stages. No less dangerous is atherosclerosis of the lower extremities. Prevention is what WHO calls on all people to do: to carry out procedures that prevent such a dangerous disease, the main part of which is proper nutrition and exercise.
What is atherosclerosis?
As medical statistics show, it is not tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, ozone holes or wars that "mow down" the human race. Humanity has an enemy more terrible than all natural disasters put together - this is its way of life, which causes such a disease as atherosclerosis. Diagnosis, treatment, prevention of this disease should bea priority for doctors, their patients, and all he althy people in general.
Atherosclerosis is a vascular pathology associated with age-related, or under the influence of external factors, changes in the vessels. If 20 years ago this disease was firmly associated with the elderly, today it is diagnosed in 16-year-old patients.
If we turn to the same statistics, then it has the following data: 85% of men and 76% of women die from pathological changes in the vessels and the diseases caused by them. That is why it is so important to bring this information to the public and explain to people why atherosclerosis prevention is needed.
Cause of the disease
To say that age-related changes in blood vessels in the direction of their compaction and blockage with cholesterol plaques is inevitable, does not correspond to reality. It is known in medical practice that up to 10% of people aged 70-80 do not suffer from vascular atherosclerosis, although they have visible changes in the arteries (the inner tissue of the vessels becomes thinner, their lumen becomes narrower).
Clogging of parts of the circulatory system with plaques and blood clots in middle-aged people (40-60 years old) has become diagnosed much more often than it was 30-50 years ago. This is due to several factors (which, by the way, also negatively affect all people, regardless of their age):
- Bad habits: alcohol consumption, smoking, negative reaction to events leading to stressful situations.
- Overweight,malnutrition, lack of regimen in it, autoimmune diseases, abuse of diets for weight loss.
- Lack of physical activity.
Gender also affects changes in the vascular system (men are more prone to them), hereditary predisposition and, last but not least, age (the video below explains what atherosclerosis is).
Important: since pathologies in the vessels begin to form at the age of 10-15, children should be taught from this age to prevent atherosclerosis. Treatment of an existing disease is a lengthy, expensive and often useless process, since the disease can have an advanced form.
Why is prevention neglected?
Why was the statistics on this disease so much lower 50 years ago? This is due not only to the fact that at that time there was no such amount of unhe althy, and often dangerous food on the shelves of stores, but also because in Soviet medicine there was such a thing as explanatory work with the population, during which it was said about the importance of prevention, including atherosclerosis.
Medical workers came to factories and gave their employees information about the causes of certain diseases, left the necessary literature for review and conducted a comprehensive examination to identify ailments at an early stage.
Today, both the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis "fell" on the shoulders of patients and their doctors. How they cope is shown by the statistics of mortality caused bypathologies in the cardiovascular system. How to identify the presence of the disease in order to diagnose it in a timely manner? You should listen to your body, which "speaks" about the condition of the arteries through the symptoms.
Symptoms of the disease
So, if a person leads an unhe althy lifestyle, consumes a lot of refined foods, fast food and convenience foods, then by the age of 35-40 he may well get problems with blood vessels. They can manifest themselves in the form of various symptoms. If the pathologies concern the heart, then they are as follows:
- Pressing dull pain in the chest, radiating to the shoulder blade, forearm or hand.
- Pain when inhaling and exhaling.
- Heaviness (as if a weight had been placed) in the region of the heart.
- High blood pressure, sweating followed by cold chills.
These symptoms clearly indicate pathologies in the coronary system that could be avoided if a person, as a preventive measure for atherosclerosis, would only reduce (or remove) from his diet the intake of animal fats, trans fats (margarine), strong tea and coffee, fast food and other similar products.
Pathologies in the vessels of the arms and legs
Indicate atherosclerosis of the extremities:
- Chilly feet and hands.
- Pale skin.
- Pain in the hips, buttocks and calf muscles, causing temporary lameness in a person.
- Swelling and appearance of trophic ulcers.
If the doctor wasa similar history was collected and the disease was detected after the diagnosis, it is already too late to deal with atherosclerosis prevention, since in this case urgent treatment is required. If the patient paid due attention to physical activity, arranged fasting days and took vitamin complexes, then this problem could have been avoided.
Pathologies in the vessels of the brain
Prevention of atherosclerosis of the cerebral vessels should be carried out starting from the age of 15-20, since it is from this disease that such a high mortality rate in the world. They say about the presence of an ailment:
- Expanding or pressing headaches.
- Ringing and buzzing in the ears of varying degrees of volume.
- Sleep problems and mood swings.
- Short breathing, incoherent speech, swallowing hard as if choking on food.
- Problem with coordination.
Why should preventive measures be started so early? The thing is, instilling he althy eating habits in young people is often very difficult, given that they prefer pizza to soup, and hamburger and french fries, which are generously poured with carbonated drinks over vegetable salad.
Prevention is a conscious care about your he alth, which is so lacking in modern people living in a world of high technology and surrogate food. But the prevention of the disease is also different.
What is prevention?
Medicine divides measures to prevent disease into 2 types:
- Primaryprevention of atherosclerosis is work with people who have no signs of illness, and it is carried out with different age categories, starting with children.
- Secondary prevention refers to patients who already have a disease. It consists in the exact implementation of all the recommendations of doctors and depends on the conscientiousness of the patients themselves.
Part of the work in the first type of prevention is entrusted to the state, which should implement programs to improve the nation and improve the environmental situation in the regions.
What is included in primary prevention?
So, what can the state do to make the people who inhabited it live long and be full members of society? As a prevention of vascular atherosclerosis, these can be:
- Activities related to the vaccination of people of all ages against influenza and infectious diseases.
- Introduction of compulsory programs on physical culture, sports and immunity strengthening in preschool and school institutions.
- Monitoring and, if possible, changing the ecological environment, for example, installing air and water filters in enterprises or closing hazardous industries.
- Adding the right amount of elements useful for humans (for example, iodine, chromium, selenium or vanadium) to water and food.
- Prohibition of products containing harmful trans fats, food (artificial) additives or colors.
- Increasing the production of sugar-free foods, reducing the production of high-calorie foods such as sweets, white bread andreplacing them with flour products made from wholemeal flour.
- Stimulation of the population to participate in sporting events.
- Performing annual he alth checkups.
- Promotion of a he althy lifestyle.
- Combating smoking and alcohol consumption.
All of the above measures are included in the concept of primary prevention of atherosclerosis.
Secondary prevention
What should people do who have already been diagnosed with this disease? In this case, it is necessary to undergo a full medical examination to find out at what stage the disease is, what damage it has caused to the body, and how dangerous they are.
Against the background of drug therapy prescribed by the doctor as an independent work, patients must adhere to a diet, exercise daily and supplement the treatment with folk recipes.
What is not possible in the prevention of atherosclerosis?
First of all, some foods should be excluded from the menu once and for all. This is:
- Confectionery and pastries.
- Any fatty food and simple (fast) carbohydrates.
- Fruit high in glucose.
- Smoked meats.
- Fast food and fried foods.
- Soda.
If you remove these products from the children's menu, it will be the best prevention of atherosclerosis of the brain. He althy eating habits acquired from childhood remain with a person for life, and sometimes he passes them on to his children and grandchildren, thereby creatingtouched on the quality and length of life in the family for many generations to come.
What is allowed?
As a preventive measure, you can:
- Fish and seafood. They must be present in the diet at least once a week.
- Vegetables and fruits, preferably fresh.
- Porridge on the water.
- Lean meat.
- Vegetable oils.
If you also replace fried foods with steamed, boiled and stewed ones, then you can not be afraid of atherosclerosis.
The concept of physical activity
Of course, the best option is playing sports, but even if there is no location or enough time for it, then physical activity can be attributed to:
- Hiking at an accelerated pace so that breathing and heart rate increase (at least half an hour). Many doctors advise walking to and from work as a form of exercise. The advice is good if the movement will not take place along the carriageway.
- 15 minute exercise. One morning exercise will not be enough if the rest of the day a person lies when he sleeps, or sits when he works. But even it should be intense enough, as they say, to sweat on the forehead.
- Running. It is recommended only for people with a he althy heart, otherwise the prevention of atherosclerosis of the vessels of the brain or coronary system will result in deterioration of he alth or hospitalization.
- Yoga. Recognized as the best remedy for prevention, as it not only provides the necessaryphysical activity, but also maintains flexibility in the body and he althy joints.
Any of the above methods will prevent the formation of pathologies in the human vascular system.
Folk remedies for the treatment of vascular pathologies
For centuries, people have studied the effect of certain gifts of nature on the body and various ailments. Prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis also has its own "set" of recipes that are effective and can help the patient completely get rid of the disease. Here are some of those that the people used to prevent atherosclerosis:
Pour a glass of boiling water 1 tbsp. a spoonful of collection of chamomile, succession, sage, St. John's wort and plantain. Insist, then, if necessary, heat to body temperature, soak gauze folded in several layers in the infusion and apply a compress to the affected area. For prevention, carry out the procedure once a day for 3 weeks. One course per year is enough
Important: before applying the compress, the leg or arm area should be gently massaged to warm the skin and “disperse” the blood.
- For the prevention of atherosclerosis, it is recommended to rub a mixture of sea buckthorn and olive oil into the limbs in a ratio of 1:1. Course 2 weeks.
- Foot bath with nettle. The best effect will be achieved if you take fresh herbs. A large bunch of nettles should be poured with boiling water, insisted, and then diluted in containers for the procedure with hot water. Soak your feet in the bath for 30 minutes.
- A proven remedy for keeping vessels "clean" is a mixture of garlic,honey and lemon (1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice, garlic and honey). You can mix in any amount, but take 1 teaspoon 3-4 times a day while the mixture is fresh.
These remedies are also good for already diagnosed diseases, but they should be carried out only after consulting a doctor.
It is important to remember that prevention of atherosclerosis is a normal he althy lifestyle, which includes moderate exercise, he althy nutrition, a positive attitude and no bad habits.
