More people than ever an abnormal heart rate, or that doctors call atrial fibrillation (AFI). While family history and aging can play a part, you can control something that can make you more likely to have AFIB: your weight.
If you are at risk for AFI or just want to improve your health, here is what you should know.
Weight Loss Camps Adults - How Weight Loss Can Affect Your Risk of AFib
About 5.6 million Americans have AFIB. If you are one of them, your heart is not receiving the right electrical signals to say when to contract or relax. As a result, the upper chambers can not hit a normal pattern and your heart can not pump the blood as well as it should.
Afib can cause weakness, shortness of breath and heart palpitations, when you feel like your heart jumped a beat. You can feel float, or as if running or beating. AFIB also raises his chances of more serious health problems such as stroke, renal disease and heart failure.
If you are obese - which means you have a 30 or higher body mass index (BMI) - you are twice as likely to have affib.
But you can turn things around. Losing extra weight can make a difference. In a study, obese people who spilled at least 10% of their body weight were 6 times more chances of never having this abnormal heartbeat again.
Fat fabric, especially around your waist, has a direct effect on your heart. Over time, it can damage the left ventricle of your heart (your main pumping chamber.) This prevents you from filling as much as needed between the beats.
Overweight also causes electrical and chemical changes to your heart. You can raise the amount of inflammation in your body. In addition, when you are obese, you are more likely to have other health problems such as hypertension, coronary artery disease (CAD), sleep apnea and diabetes. Each of them is linked to the increase in the risk of AFIB, as well.
The higher your BMI, more likely it is that you have affib.
Cardiac ablation is a common AFI treatment. During this surgery, the doctor chained a long pipe called catheter through his blood vessels and to his heart. Then they use radio waves, heat or extreme cold to destroy the damaged tissue that is causing your affib.
Although ablation takes the need for long-term medicine or a surgical implant to correct your heartbeat, it is less likely to be a good option if you are obese. The chances that your affib will return after this treatment is larger than for someone with a normal BMI. Even small increases in BMI can increase odds. And if your BMI is more than 40 years, you are also more likely to have side effects of cardiac ablation.
So, what is the best thing to do if you are obese and probably will have affib? Experts believe that the answer is weight loss.
reaching a healthy BMI will also help manage other health problems such as blood pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes and hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol). Once they are under control, your heart should work best as well.
ENEAR Less, move more. Lower the amount of calories you eat and drink. Lift your exercise. Your doctor can tell how to do this safely.
Focus on healthy foods. Fresh food, whole, like fruit, vegetables, and whole grains give your body the necessary nutrients without extra calories.
Start small. Choose goals that are clear and easy to reach - it is more likely to stay with them. Here's a good thing: Say you're going to cook a healthy dinner and jump fast food two nights this week.
Trace your progress. Register your food, tell your steps and always check with a friend or counselor.
Be patient. Weight loss takes months and sometimes years, not days. Pointing for a lifestyle change, you can support the long run instead of an accident diet that leaves you feeling private.
Converse with your doctor. If you are obese, you may need more than diet and exercise to pour your extra pounds. Bariatric surgery (which makes your lower stomach or makes changes in your small intestine) can help your heart as well. Your doctor will let you know if this is an option for you.
