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Heart is one of the most important body organs, in fact, the most important to be precise. The regular and healthy functioning of all the other organs of the body relies completely on the proper functioning of the heart. Any non-functioning of the heart in our body adversely affects all the other organs leading to fatal diseases in the body.

However, some of the most fatal diseases relating to the body occur in this vital organ and are collectively referred to as heart diseases. Heart diseases are very difficult to detect and are usually noticed with few external symptoms such as heart strokes—in general called heart attacks. This article is dedicated to these very fatal heart diseases and will give you important information on what you should know about these heart diseases.

What actually is a heart disease?

This term, heart disease, is in fact a broad term that covers a large number of medical conditions that may affect the heart and also the blood vessels that supply blood to-and-fro the heart. Many people still believe that this is an illusive illness, but lately heart diseases have been noticed in a lot of patients, even younger generation.

A lot of heart conditions that comprise this term are as follows:

• Cardiomyopathy
• Valvular heart disease
• Arrhythmias
• Coronary artery disease (CAD)
• Congestive heart failure
• Inflammatory heart disease
• Congenital heart disease
• Hypertensive heart disease

How can one diagnose a heart disease?

All the heart diseases mentioned earlier have different external symptoms, although some symptoms are common for all such types of heart diseases.

Following is the list of some commonly and widely detected symptoms of heart diseases:

• Angina: This term is used to describe discomfort and pain in the chest region and occurs in serious heart diseases. A person may feel pressure, heaviness, burning, aching, squeezing, fullness, or a painful sensation in the chest. However, many people mistake angina to be heartburn or indigestion. 

• Fainting or dizziness
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue or weakness
• Wheezing or cough
• Vomiting or nausea
• Sweating
• Swelling in abdomen, feet, and ankles
• Bluish tint at lips, fingernails, and skin (called cyanosis)

What are the major causes of heart diseases?

Heart diseases are, indeed, caused by a variety of factors. These risk factors can be divided into two heads—contributing and major. Major risk factors are the ones that are known to increase the risks of a heart disease. On the other hand, contributing risk factors are those that are considered as risk causing by medical practitioners or practicing doctors.

Some of the major risk factors that can cause heart diseases are as follows:

• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Smoking
• Lack of physical activity
• High cholesterol
• Obesity

Some of the contributing risk factors that can potentially lead to heart diseases are as follows:

• Birth control pills
• Stress
• Alcohol
• Sex hormones

Any recommendations to reduce the risks of heart diseases?

Medical practitioners all across the glove recommend people above the age of 35 to go for regular health checkups that involve thorough examination of the complete body. Any symptoms of heart disease when noticed, even mildly, should be reported to a doctor and quick treatment should be taken to avoid aggravating the problem and increasing the risk of any kind of fatal heart disease.