Is it true that obesity causes heart attacks? & bull; hello healthy

Heart attack can be experienced by anyone, both male and female, also young or older. However, some people have a higher risk of having a heart attack, including people who are overweight or obese. What exactly is the reason obesity causes or causes heart attacks. Check out the full explanation below.

How does obesity cause heart attacks?

Obesity is now a scourge for modern society, especially urban communities. The development of science, causes people to start to be aware of the dangers posed by obesity. In addition to his appearance being less attractive, there is a cascade of threatening disease behind him.

Heart attacks, which were only suffered by the elderly, are now starting to threaten the younger generation, who are still incessantly creating and expressing themselves. Changes in lifestyle, both diet, physical activity, and stress levels are the main causes of obesity that lead to deadly heart attacks.

According to an article published in the Obesity Action Community, being overweight or obese is a risk factor for heart attacks. Here are a few reasons:

Increase cholesterol levels

For example, when you are overweight, your levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides also increase. Not only that, the levels of good cholesterol in the body also decrease. In fact, the levels of good cholesterol (HDL) have an important role in reducing levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body.

This of course causes obesity to increase the risk of heart attack, because when cholesterol increases, cholesterol plaques will form in the arteries of the heart which can later cause blockages.

Increase high blood pressure

Obesity can also cause high blood pressure to rise, which is a risk factor for heart attack.

People who are obese have a higher risk of developing plaque in the blood vessels, thus narrowing the blood vessels. This will make the heart have to work harder to pump to supply oxygen and other nutrients needed by the body. It increases turning normal blood pressure into high ..

That way, it's no wonder if you experience high blood pressure. This condition that occurs due to obesity causes the risk of heart attack to increase.

Increase blood sugar levels

Not only cholesterol and high blood pressure, blood sugar levels can also increase if you are obese. With increasing blood sugar levels, your risk of developing diabetes also increases. In fact, the condition caused by obesity is one of the conditions that causes an increased risk of heart attack.

According to the American Heart Association, at least 68% of the total elderly who suffer from diabetes, usually also have a heart attack. Therefore, if you have diabetes but have not been diagnosed with a heart attack, now is the time to take precautions against heart attacks.

How to measure body weight to determine obesity or not

To find out whether you are obese or not, here are some ways you can do:

Using the BMI calculator

You probably already understand that obesity can increase the risk of various heart attacks. However, you can also be confused about whether you currently have an ideal body weight or if you are overweight. To find out, you can perform calculations on the Body Mass Index or BMI using the BMI calculator from Hello Sehat.

You can use a BMI calculation to measure your height and weight. If you can't do it yourself at home, you can ask for help from a medical professional at the nearest hospital.

By using a height and weight calculation, you may find it easier to control your BMI number. Your BMI score will classify you into one of four categories: underweight, ideal, overweight, or obese.

If you are at the rate of obesity, it is important to check with your doctor for heart health conditions. At the very least, you need to know whether obesity that you are experiencing has caused a heart attack. If so, you and your doctor can treat a heart attack in the right way. If not, you can prepare prevention so that you can be more careful about any symptoms of a heart attack that may arise.

However, you still need to pay attention to muscle mass. The reason is, the BMI calculator does not take it into account. This means that your BMI number may indicate being overweight or obese. In fact, what makes your body heavier is muscle mass, not fat.

Measure your waist circumference

In addition to using a calculator, you can find out if you are obese or not by measuring your waist circumference. The goal, to find out whether your body has too much fat in the abdomen or waist. The larger the waist circumference, the more fat there will be in that area.

However, you should know that this calculation of waist circumference will not be the same as when you measured it to buy pants. To be able to measure the waist, you need a measuring device, and place it under the ribs and upper hips. For an ideal size, a boy's waist is usually 94 centimeters (cm). Meanwhile, the ideal waist circumference for women is 80 cm.

How to reduce the risk of obesity and heart attack

Since obesity can increase the risk of heart attack, you don't want to experience it. Therefore, if you are still at an ideal or normal weight, keep it in order to maintain overall body health.

However, if you are already obese, it is important for you to control your weight in order to reduce the risk of heart attack. No need to push yourself, you can start slowly. For example, by reducing the portion of the meal with the right portion of the meal.

In addition, get used to a healthy diet to prevent heart attacks. Avoid foods that have the potential to increase body weight. If necessary, read every label of packaged food that you intend to consume to avoid unhealthy foods.

Do not forget to exercise regularly, so that the body is more active in burning fat. It can also help reduce the risk of obesity, which can lead to heart attacks.