1. Quit smoking
2. Limit your caffeine and alcohol intake
3. Trim the saturated fat from your Diet!
   Many of us eat too much fat. We should get no more than 35% of our daily caloric value from fat which work s out to be a maximum of 70 gm a day for women and 95 grams a day for men.
   • Remove the skin from your chicken or turkey before eating it.
   • Trim all visible fat from your meat before cooking it.
   • Choose low-fat options when eating out.
   • Don’t choose take-away food as there is an abundance of hidden fat in most.
   • Try to avoid all frying of foods.
   • Cut back on processed foods.
   • Prepare your meals from scratch using fresh produce
   • Maintain the required fat levels by choosing nuts and seeds .
4. Add some activity into your Life!
   Follow the guidelines in the Actively Ageing Workbook.

This is a condition where the heart has trouble working effectively and therefore cannot supply enough blood to all parts of the body. It can be caused by high blood pressure, a heart rate that is too fast or too slow, heart valve problems or with the heart muscle itself.

Symptoms of Heart Failure

• Breathlessness at night
• Breathlessness when walking
• Tiredness
• Difficulty exercising
• Fluid retention especially in the feet & ankles

Heart Failure can follow immediately after a problem or injury affects the heart, but more commonly it develops months or years later. Once initiated, the cardiovascular system may be unable to carry out its functions adequately. In general, heart failure is a progressive disorder which can begin with any number of culprits and deteriorate if left untreated.

It can be said that Heart Failure is a cumulative consequence of all insults to the heart over someone's life.

The prevalence of heart failure approximately DOUBLES with each decade of life. As people live longer, the occurrence of heart failure rises, as well as other conditions which complicate its treatment. Even when symptoms are absent or controlled, impaired heart function implies a reduced duration of survival. Fortunately, many factors which can prevent heart failure and improve outcome are known and can be applied at any stage. 

People who have heart failure can live longer and more active lives if it’s diagnosed early and they follow their treatment plans. For most, treatment includes medicines and lifestyle measures. 
 

Coronary heart disease is a heart condition also known as coronary artery disease, coronary atherosclerosis, or chronic ischaemic heart disease. The coronary arteries supply your heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood. Plaque narrows your arteries and reduces your blood flow to your heart muscle.

Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances found in the blood often as a result of a high saturated fat or high cholesterol diet. When plaque builds up in your arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis.

The presence of plaque also makes it more likely that blood clots will form in your arteries. Blood clots can partially or completely block your blood flow.

Symptoms of CHD

People with coronary heart disease may experience:

• shortness of breath
• difficulty breathing
• chest pain or angina often experienced as a gripping or squeezing pain in the heart
• palpitations which may be felt as an irregular, fluttering or skipping heartbeat
• fainting,
• dizziness
• brief loss of consciousness.

Coronary heart disease can also lead to a heart attack (myocardial infarction) which occurs when one of the coronary arteries is blocked by a blood clot or a cholesterol plaque.  Part of the heart muscle is then starved of oxygenated blood and is subsequently damaged or dies. It can also lead to a stroke where the clot or plaque lodges in an artery in the brain.

Your cardiovascular system includes not only your heart, but also your blood vessels which include arteries and capillaries which carry blood through the body. Blood shuttles oxygen from the lungs, food for our tissues, hormones and a host of other cells with specific roles and functions.

Your Heart is an organ providing the driving force of the entire cardiovascular system. It rhythmically contracts at a self-generated pace, although heart rate can be modified by numerous external effects. The contractions propel blood through the vascular system to allow delivery of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and food to individual tissues. The organ is enclosed in a double-walled sac called the pericardium. This sac protects the heart, anchors its surrounding structures, and prevents overfilling of the heart with blood. It is located in front of the vertebral column and behind the breast bone. The size of the heart is about the size of the person’s fist and has a mass of between 250 grams and 350 grams. It is composed of three layers, all of which are rich with blood vessels. The heart has four chambers, two superior atria and two inferior ventricles. The atria are the receiving chambers and the ventricles are the discharging chambers. The flow of blood through the heart is done by four valves which are the tricuspid valve, the mitral valve, the aortic valve, and the pulmonary valve.

Your Vascular System is a closed circuit of branching blood vessels which carries and transfers blood products to organs and tissues. It is composed of three types of vessels:

1. Arteries
   1. These are branching, elastic tubes which carry blood away from your heart. The blood contained within them is usually oxygen-rich and under high fluid pressure. The primary exception to this rule is the pulmonary arteries, which carry oxygen-poor blood from the heart to the lungs.
2. Veins
   1. These are thinner walled branching vessels that carry low fluid pressure blood (generally oxygen-poor) back to the heart. The only veins which carry oxygen-rich blood are those that return blood from the lungs to the heart.
3. Capillaries
   1. These are tiny intermediate vessels between arteries and veins where gas and food exchange occurs within individual tissues. In order to reach the many cells of tissues which depend on the vascular system as a supply line, capillaries split into elaborate branching networks of interconnecting, microscopic vessels.
4. Your Blood is the fluid which travels in the vascular system. Blood is actually a mixture of components:
   1. Plasma - a fluid substance which is mostly water, salts and protein
   2. Red Blood Cells (RBC) - cells which give blood its characteristic red colour and ability to transport oxygen
   3. White Blood Cells which mediate inflammation (for example, in response to infection).

Your lungs are two sac-like organs which occupy the chest cavity and due to a negative pressure created by breathing in, take in air from your surroundings. They contain large numbers of tiny, specialized air sacs which collect air into tunnels where blood in capillaries can intermingle with them and engage in gas exchange.

Your Neuro-endocrine System coordinates different functions of the body. It is primarily composed of the interaction of the nervous system and organs which produce hormones. In part, this system regulates effects to the heart and vascular system. 
 
Heart Disease comes in all forms but the main ones you should know about are the ones you can do something about by changing your lifestyle.