Heart rate indicates how hard the heart works and the number of calories burned during exercise. Heart rate monitors have health benefits and diagnostic uses in the medical field and many athletes use them to help optimize their training.
According to a 2007 survey in the "Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research," the prevalence of nocturnal leg cramps has increased. It grew from 2.6 % in 1987 to 5.8 % in 1995. Such cramps can exist in isolation, or they can indicate...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. Because diet plays such an important role in preventing heart disease, some doctors recommend a cardiac...
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and, according to 2010 information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year about 785,000 Americans suffer a first heart attack, while another 470,000 who have...
High cholesterol is a medical condition in which "bad" cholesterol, otherwise known as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, builds up inside your arteries, leaving decreased room for blood flow. This can put you at risk for stroke, heart...
The leading cause of death in the United States is cardiovascular disease. When a heart attack is suspected, early diagnosis is imperative, since therapy to stop a heart attack with clot-busting drugs or stent placement are most effective within...
Once diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, it's important to gather all of the information you can about your condition, and start to work towards a healthier lifestyle. Cardiac rehabilitation usually begins in the hospital after a heart attackor...
Following a heart attack, stroke or diagnosis of a heart condition, it's important for you to follow your doctor's orders regarding lifestyle and diet changes as well as potentially increasing exercise. Exercise can make your heart stronger and...
Chest pain can arise from a number of causes, but any type of chest pain is a cause for concern. While vigorous cardio exercise may cause a heart attack in people with a history of heart disease, a consensus of doctors from organizations such as...
Maintaining a healthy heart is vital for a long, productive and fit life. Heart disease is one of the biggest killers worldwide, and the biggest killer in the United States. Armed with a little knowledge about how your heart works, you can...
There is a bona fide link between high cholesterol and heart disease. It's important to monitor your cholesterol intake, especially if you've been diagnosed with high cholesterol. Controlling what you eat and limiting your intake of...
If you feel that you or someone you know is suffering from symptoms of a heart attack, it's important to communicate this information to health care professionals by calling ahead to a hospital or emergency room. These symptoms may include pain or...
Pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium, the sac that surrounds the heart. Chest pain is a common symptom with pericarditis that can mimic the pain seen with heart attacks. Distinguishing pericarditis from a heart attack requires...
If you eat a lot of fatty foods, the results may show up as unhealthy cholesterol in your bloodstream. This increases your risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke. If you reduce the type and amount of fat in your diet, you can protect...
While excess weight typically accumulates slowly, a larger waistline can quickly change your life forever if the fat leads to a heart attack or cancer diagnosis. Although fat inside your midsection is more dangerous than the fat located elsewhere...
Women account for almost 50 percent of all heart attack deaths, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). While heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women, women are less likely to recognize the signs of an...
When you suffer a heart attack, medically termed a myocardial infarction, damage occurs to certain parts of your heart muscle, weakening its ability to pump. Damaged muscle allows enzymes to leak from the muscle into your bloodstream. Testing your...
Whether you're recovering from a heart attack or still processing your doctor's diagnosis of heart disease, you may be overwhelmed with the lifestyle changes you need to make to get healthy. While you may be sick, that doesn't mean that exercise...
Cardiac ultrasonography, more commonly referred to as an echocardiogram, is a tool used to create a moving image of the heart through waves of sound, explains the American Heart Association. Sound waves sent into the cardiac region of the chest...
With the advent of the Internet and ready access to medical information, both professional and lay, researching illnesses and their symptoms is just a few mouse clicks away. This easy availability of information sometimes makes for arm-chair...
According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and is equally divided among men and women. It is the leading cause of death for American Indians, Alaska Natives and African Americans....
The University of Maryland Medical Center describes the gallbladder as a small sac under the liver in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen. Bile is held in the gallbladder and secreted through the biliary tube into the bowel during digestion to...
The heart is a muscular pump. When a person experiences a heart attack, a portion of the heart muscle is damaged, causing symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain that can radiate, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and sweating. One way of...
Events caused by sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation, two disorders that share many of the same risk factors and symptoms, can wake you up to a pounding heart. Unless you have an emotional condition, such as anxiety, your increased pulse rate may...
The heart is designed to receive blood, nutrients and oxygen from a number of different coronary arteries--arteries that service the heart muscle itself. If a blockage in the coronary arteries develops, direct damage to the heart muscle may...
Your blood sugar level after a meal, or postprandial blood glucose, reflects how your body responds to an influx of glucose from food. Abnormally high or low blood sugar levels after meals may indicate diabetes. Whether or not you've been...
Hiatus hernia, also called hiatal hernia, occurs when part of the stomach pushes into the chest cavity. The condition may happen because of weakening tissue in the stomach area and it is common in people older than age 50, MedlinePlus explains....
Approximately 3 percent of infants and children have high blood pressure, according to KidsHealth.org. Blood pressure is a measurement of blood exerting against blood vessel walls as the heart pumps. In all children and adults, blood pressure...
In 1961, when scientists working on the Framingham Heart Project sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute first identified cholesterol as a risk factor for heart disease, they probably had little notion how important that...
