Home Health Care Massapequa NY
Each year more than 730,000 people throughout the United States suffer from a heart attack. For the vast majority of these people, more than 525,000 of them, this heart attack is the first that they have suffered. Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death among both men and women throughout the United States. As a family caregiver it is your responsibility to help your aging parent understand the risks for suffering a heart attack and make choices in your home health care journey that reduce those risks and help protect your parent from this potentially devastating medical event.
Some of the risk factors associated with heart attack include:
- Getting older. The majority of people who die from a heart attack are over the age of 64. As women get older, they are more likely to die of a heart attack within a few weeks after the initial attack than men are.
- Being male. Though heart disease is the leading cause of death among women as well, men are more likely to suffer from a heart attack than women are. They are also more likely to experience a heart attack at a younger age and to suffer from more serious health complications associated with it.
- Genetics. People with a family history of heart disease and heart attacks are at a much higher risk of suffering these themselves. Though the death rates are largely equal, studies have shown that blacks are at higher risk of heart disease and heart attacks than whites, as are people of Mexican descent.
- High cholesterol. It is vital that your parent get their blood cholesterol checked regularly in order to detect changes that could put them at higher risk of heart disease and heart attack. High blood cholesterol is a leading risk factor for heart disease.
- High blood pressure. People with high blood pressure are at a much higher risk of suffering from a heart attack than those with normal blood pressure. This is because high blood pressure causes the heart to work harder, thickening and stiffening the muscle and reducing effectiveness.
- Being overweight. Being overweight or obese is one of the most pressing risk factors for heart attack. This increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and forces the heart to work harder. Physical inactivity is also a risk factor for heart attack on its own, but also contributes to being overweight.
If your parent is at high risk of suffering a heart attack, hiring home health care may be a great option for helping them to overcome these risks and live a healthier lifestyle. An in-home senior care services provider can offer attentive, personalized care that is tailored to their specific needs and challenges so that they can focus in on the risks that they have and effective means of reducing them. This can mean evaluating the dietary guidelines offered to them by their doctor and helping them to choose and prepare healthy foods, getting them more active so that they can strengthen their heart and lose weight, or give them the emotional support and encouragement that they need to help them overcome habits that increase their risk of heart attack such as smoking.
Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
https://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/UnderstandYourRiskofHeartAttack/Understand-Your-Risks-to-Prevent-a-Heart-Attack_UCM_002040_Article.jsp#.V5N3ELgrLIU
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Health Care Services in Massapequa NY, please contact the caring staff at Gentle Hands Home Care.