Introduction 

Coronary heart disease is common in elders but now you can find it in youngsters too.

Coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is a condition in which the important blood supply of the heart is damaged or reduced.

The artery supplying blood and nutrition to the heart is affected. This important artery is known as Coronary Artery.

Coronary arteries help in supplying the oxygenated (blood with high levels of oxygen and low levels of carbon dioxide) blood to the heart and taking away low-oxygenated blood from the heart.

Also known as coronary artery disease, ischemic heart disease.

Causes of coronary heart disease

The main cause of coronary heart disease is an accumulation of material in the arteries leading to blockage or reduced blood supply to the heart.

The accumulated material is popularly known as PLAQUE. This plaque is a fatty deposition in the inner walls of arteries.

Other causes are:

• High blood pressure
• Stress
• Obesity
• Low lipid
• Alcohol and smoking

Symptoms of coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is the chief cause of death universally. Chest pain is the main symptom, of chest congestion, breathlessness, neck pain, tiredness, shoulder pain, lightheadedness and sweating.

Coronary heart disease in teens

Coronary heart disease is more common in elders, particularly men. But in recent days, it is seen teenagers are also susceptible to coronary heart diseases. Let us know a few reasons for this condition:

• Hereditary factor: when the condition of heart disease runs in the family, it is obvious that the same symptoms and characteristics of heart disease are transferred to their children
• Way of living: the diet which the youngster is consuming is mostly processed food, spiced up, oily, junk, packed foods which are difficult for digestion and metabolism. There is no specified time for meals due to the work culture of night shifts in IT industries. Hence there is no proper nutrition to organs of the body. It is said that people working during night shifts have reduced their life span. Talking about the work culture, the more time we spend in front of laptops, and gadgets making our life sedentary and not getting that proper workout required to the healthy body will give rise to many heart problems. Another reason is intoxication, it may be smoking, alcohol intake or any kind of drug consumption that will create heart issues in the youngster
• Status of health: A sedentary lifestyle will result in obesity. Obesity is a risk factor for heart disease. Obesity in turn will prompt many health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension thyroid abnormality
• Hypertension is the leading cause of heart disease. The stress, and the rise in blood pressure levels will alter the normal anatomy of the heart muscle, arteries and veins leading to stroke
• Hypercholesterolemia or hyperlipidemia is the state in which there is an increased amount of cholesterol or lipids in the blood. The pace of blood flow decreases due to the deposition of fat in the arteries. It may also form a clot in future and lead to a heart attack

Treatment and management 

Treatment includes depending upon the stage of heart disease is involved, it might be just some simple diet modification and exercise at an early stage or maybe surgery for the last stage of heart disease.

• Healthy way of living: diet modifications like including all-natural food items, eating them at a particular time and exercising daily like walking for 30 minutes a day
• Avoiding alcohol and smoking: if a person is a chain smoker or heavy drinker then at least he can go for occasional drinks because it is difficult to cut off the habit at once
• If there is any sort of pain in the chest, tiredness, or excess sweating then one should get checkups done regularly
• One should maintain normal blood pressure levels and can do meditation and breathing exercises to keep oneself calm
• Avoid foods which contain high amounts of fatty acids. One can go for simple foods

Summary

Coronary heart disease is a condition in which the main arteries supplying the heart are damaged due to the deposition of fatty things in the wall of the artery.

It is caused due to high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol in the blood, a sedentary lifestyle, processed foods, inactive life, stress and substance abuse.