Testing, testing for Your Heart

The Heart is one of the most important organs in your body as it pumps blood and oxygen into the your system to make you alive and kicking. It is therefore wise for us to monitor our heart's condition in order to avoid risks and care for it. You no doubt already know what you should do in order to prevent heart disease: exercise, don't smoke, eat a healthy diet rich in vegetables and low in fat. However, still many die of coronary heart disease. This calls for us to be aggressive enough to watch out and control risk factors to prevent the number one killer of our world today. One thing there is engage yourself in healthy lifestyle, self-discipline and submit yourself to tests and screenings in order to foresee and be warned of the measures of the disease.

I listed below the most common tests health professionals use to tract our heart's health, plus an interpretation of the result by a certain Sharonne Hayes, M.D. Blood-pressure and cholesterol screenings are the most typical tests. The other tests are done when results are murky or when one is on the high-risk group.

test	what it measures	what the results mean
BLOOD PRESSURE	The force of blood againsts the	Anything over a normal reading
	artery wall. High-blood pressure	(120/80) increases your risks for
	makes it harder for the heart to	heart attack and stroke
	pump blood and oxygen to the
	body.
BMI, WAIST CIRCUM-	Body fat (especially abdominal fat),	A BMI outside the normal range of
FERENCE, AND	which correlates with heart-disease	18.5 to 24.9 raises your heart-
WAIST-TO-HIP RATIO		disease risk, as does a waist larger
		than 35 inches or a waist as big or
		bigger than your hips.
LIPID	Levels of lipids found in the blood-	Ideally, total cholesterol should be
	stream, including total cholesterol,	200 mg per deciliter (mg/dL) or less;
	HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad	HDL, over 50 mg/dL; LDL, 100mg/dL
	cholesterol) and triglycerides, another	or less; triglycerides, less than 150
	type of fat in the blood	mg/dL.
FASTING BLOOD	The amount of sugar (glucose) in the	Your normal fasting plasma glucose
GLUCOSE	blood	should be under 100mg/dL, which
		indicates that your body is effectively
		controlling blood sugar levels.
STRESS TEST	Blood flow to the heart, which can	Doctor monitors your heart rate and
	indicate abnormalities such as blood-	blood pressure, ECG Patterns,
	flow blockages and arrhythmias.	symptoms, and how long you are
		able to exercise on a threadmill to
		determine your risk.
CT TEST FOR CORONARY	Calcium deposits in the arteries, a	A Calcium artery calcification (CAC)
CALCIFICATION ONLY	sign or coronary artery disease.	score greater than zero indicates
		plaque in the arteries.
HIGH-SENSITIVITY	A protein that signals inflammation in	A high CRP level (above 3 mg per liter)
C-REACTIVE PROTEIN	the body.	is associated with an increased risk
		for cardiovascular problems.
LIPOPROTEIN A (Lp(a))	Levels of type of cholesterol similar to	An unhealthy Lp(a) level is 30mg/dL or
	LDL; high levels of Lp(a) correlate	higher.
	with atherosclerosis (hardening and
	narrowing of the arteries).
HOMOCYSTENE	An amino acid in the blood.	Anything over 15 micromoles per
		liter indicates an increased risk of
		heart disease.

Our heart is very important as I have said. It is just right to monitor our risk factors. With the above we could be helped in determining where our heart lies. Remember your heart is YOU. Even seemingly healthy women can have heart problems, which are often hard to detect. That 's why it is essential to get the recommended tests-even if you feel fine-and protect your heart if you want to live longer. LOVE YOUR HEART!!! LOVE YOUR LIFE!!!