Heart disease can be caused by many things.
Family history plays a big part, but there are others.
Stress, poor diet, lack of exercise, obesity and other diseases can have a role.
So does smoking and alcohol use.
Any combination of them just makes it worse.
When looking at the symptoms, it's important to know that there is more than one disease under the general term "heart disease.
" While many of the symptoms may be similar, not all of them are precisely the same.
Coronary Artery Disease: Angina is the most common symptom.
This means chest pain, but it can be felt in different ways.
Some may mistake it for heartburn, or feel pressure in the chest.
The pain and/or pressure is usually found in the chest, but can also be felt in the jaw, neck, shoulder, arm and back.
Other possible symptoms are shortness of breath, palpitations, fast heart rate, weakness, dizziness, nausea and unusual sweating.
These symptoms often improve with rest and/or medications.
Heart attack: The above symptoms may also be present during a heart attack.
However, they last for longer than thirty minutes and don't go away with medications and rest.
The pain may start with mild discomfort, but then move on to intense pain.
It is possible to have a heart attack without symptoms.
This is especially true of diabetics.
Arrhythmias: Palpitations and pounding heart beat are two common symptoms of an arrhythmia, which means the heart isn't beating in a normal way.
Other symptoms are dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, weakness and fatigue.
Heart Valve Disease: Shortness of breath, palpitations, chest discomfort and weakness.
Some people with valve disease feel very few or mild symptoms, but they may have a serious problem.
Others may have strong symptoms, but only a mild disease.
There are some triggers for heart attacks that might interest you.
They aren't things we'd normally associate with an increased risk.
One of them is traffic.
Studies show it increases blood pressure and could triple your risk.
Many heart attacks happen first thing in the morning.
There are several reasons for this.
Your body begins to release stress hormones when you first get up, which can increase blood pressure and heart rate.
Most people become slightly dehydrated overnight, which causes blood to be thicker.
All of this is hard on your heart.
Garfield is right to hate Mondays.
Monday mornings, you're 20 percent more likely to have a heart attack.
It's thought to be due in part to depression and stress about returning to work.
The tendency to sleep late on Saturday and Sunday may also play a factor, as your body is out of its natural rhythm.
Public speaking should not be much of a surprise on this list of heart attack triggers.
Nervousness and anxiety often occur, and you can literally scare yourself to death.
During a bowel movement, you are also at increased risk.
This points out how important it is to eat a high fiber and well balanced diet with plenty of fluids.
High fat, high carb meals can be a cause as well.
In some of the recent U.
S.
earthquakes, many of deaths were caused by heart attacks.
Having been in one of them, I concur with the findings.