Coronary Heart Disease – Causes

If you or someone you know has coronary heart disease, the question may arise as to what caused it in the first place. The person never seemed sick. Perhaps they were healthy to outward appearances. They may have engaged in an occasional game of an active sport. They may look absolutely healthy, and yet suddenly, the doctor diagnoses coronary heart disease.

Many of the causes of coronary heart disease are also the risk factors a physician gives for the condition. Some causes may generate coronary heart disease in one individual, while having no such affect on another.

The causes of coronary heart disease presented here are meant only as a partial listing. Please seek advice from a professional physician.

Ischemia: There is a sense in which ischemia, the main symptom of coronary heart disease, may also be viewed as the main cause of coronary heart disease. Ischemia is a condition in which one area of the body is not getting enough oxygen-rich blood due to blockage of blood vessels leading into that area. The lack of sufficient blood causes coronary heart disease.

Digging further, we must ask what caused the ischemia.

* Genetics – Some individuals are genetically predisposed to blockage of the blood vessels that leads to coronary heart disease. They have a family history of the disease, and their genetics causes it. Such individuals, though leading a lifestyle identical to that of people without this genetic makeup, will likely develop coronary heart disease unless strong preventative measures are taken.

* Age – Although aging itself does not cause coronary heart disease, the more years you have to build up blockage, the more likely it is that you will develop coronary heart disease in your senior years.

* Lack of exercise – An inactive lifestyle deprives the heart and blood vessels of regular strengthening. The heart is a muscle, and like very other muscle, can be strengthened through exercise. The blood vessels will be kept cleaner if exercise regularly pushes blood through them at full capacity. A sedentary lifestyle may not be a direct cause of coronary heart disease, but it can be a contributing cause.

* Overweight - Excess weight burdens the heart. The heart must work harder to pump blood through many yards of additional blood vessels. This, in turn, increases the blood pressure, which narrows blood vessels. Narrowed blood vessels may cause coronary heart disease.

There is wide debate over other possible contributing causes of coronary heart disease, but as stated above, the main cause is blockage of major blood vessels. Whatever contributes to that may cause coronary heart disease.