Heart Disease: Causes, Risks, and What You Can Do About It

When we talk about heart disease, a group of conditions that affect the heart’s structure and function, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, and arrhythmias. It’s not just one thing—it’s the result of decades of wear and tear, poor habits, and sometimes genetics. Every year, more people die from heart disease than from cancer, accidents, or diabetes combined. And the scary part? Many cases are preventable.

Metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions—high waist size, elevated triglycerides, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance—that together raise your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. It’s not a diagnosis you get from one lab test. It’s a pattern. If your waist is over 40 inches (men) or 35 inches (women), your triglycerides are above 150, and your fasting blood sugar is over 100, you’re likely in the zone. And if you’re in that zone, your heart is already under stress. High blood pressure doesn’t just make your heart work harder—it damages the arteries. Bad cholesterol (LDL) builds up in those damaged walls, forming plaques. Over time, those plaques can rupture, trigger a clot, and cause a heart attack or stroke. These aren’t abstract risks. They’re physical changes happening inside your body right now, whether you feel it or not.

You don’t need a miracle cure. You need consistency. Small changes—walking 30 minutes a day, cutting out sugary drinks, sleeping better, managing stress—add up faster than you think. The posts below don’t just explain how heart disease works. They show you how it connects to things you might not realize: how a TIA can increase dementia risk, why alcohol affects your heart meds, how insulin resistance ties into cholesterol, and how even something like a simple infection can strain your cardiovascular system. These aren’t random articles. They’re pieces of a bigger picture—one that shows you how to protect your heart, not just treat it after it’s broken.