Heart Attack: Causes, Symptoms and Risk Factors

A sudden and unexpected heart attack is one of the most common ways heart disease manifests itself. A heart attack is death or damage to a part of the heart muscle because its blood supply is severely reduced or interrupted. When the heart doesn't beat or can't beat effectively, oxygen doesn't reach the body's tissues. Within seconds, the body begins to shut down essential functions. The brain and the heart itself are the most vulnerable to damage resulting from lack of oxygen; your cells start dying in three minutes

What is a Heart attack?

A heart attack occurs when one or more coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart are completely blocked and blood to the heart muscle is cut off. The blockage is usually caused by atherosclerosis. This process is called heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI)

Heart attack Causes 

Sudden blockage of a coronary artery is the immediate cause of a heart attack. This is usually the result of coronary thrombosis; Occasionally, a blood clot or plaque buildup in the arteries (atherosclerosis) can break off and move down until it settles in a narrow section, the plaque can rupture and spill cholesterol and other substances into the bloodstream, causing total obstruction 

Of course, sudden blockage of a coronary artery means that the part of the heart muscle that was supplied by that artery is devoid of blood and oxygen (ischemia)

Heart attack Symptoms

Any of these symptoms can be the result of a heart attack

• Severe pressure or pain in the center of the chest, lasting more than a few minutes

• Difficulty breathing

• Fast breathing

• Profuse sweating

• Pain that radiates from the chest to the left arm

• Pain that spreads to the shoulders, neck, arms, elbows, wrists, fingers, somewhere around the shoulder blades or the pit of the stomach

• Chest discomfort with dizziness, fainting, sweating, nausea

People can survive heart attacks if they receive immediate medical attention. Cardiologists recommend chewing an aspirin tablet at the first signs of a possible heart attack, which helps slow down the clotting process

Heart attack Risk factors

• Age:  Men over 45 and women over 55 are considered at risk

• Smoking: Smoking greatly increases the chance of developing coronary heart disease

• High cholesterol: The risk of developing coronary heart disease increases as blood cholesterol levels rise

• Hypertension: High blood pressure makes the heart work harder and, over time, weakens it. HBP increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and congestive heart failure

• Obesity: Excess weight increases the stress on the heart, increases blood pressure and cholesterol in the blood, and increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease

• Lack of physical activity: This increases the risk of coronary heart disease

• Diabetes mellitus: The risk of developing coronary artery disease is greatly increased for diabetics

• Stress and anger: Some scientists believe that stress and anger can contribute to the development of coronary heart disease. Stress increases heart rate and blood pressure and can damage the lining of the arteries