Which are the main reasons of diables and heart diseases
Answers
Explanation:
Why does diabetes increase your risk of heart disease?
If you have high blood sugar levels for a period of time, even slightly high, your blood blood vessels can start to get damaged and this can lead to serious heart complications.
This is because your body can't use all of this sugar properly, so more of it sticks to your red blood cells and builds up in your blood. This build-up can block and damage the vessels carrying blood to and from your heart, starving the heart of oxygen and nutrients.
So keeping as close as possible to your target HbA1c level will help protect your blood vessels and in turn your heart. Even mildly raised blood sugar levels can, over time, put you more at risk.
Be in the know about your HbA1c and how to lower it if it's too high.
Managing your diabetes and your heart
We've talked about the link between high blood sugar levels and your heart health. But it's not all down to blood sugars. Blood vessels are also damaged by high cholesterol (blood fats) and high blood pressure.
So you can help prevent damage to your blood vessels by looking after your:
blood sugar levels
blood pressure
cholesterol (blood fats)
Getting your HbA1c, cholesterol and blood pressure checked at least once a year is part of your 15 Healthcare Essentials and your legal right. If you're not getting these, give us a call and we'll help you get the care you're entitled to when you have diabetes.
By managing these three things, you'll be helping to manage your diabetes and protecting yourself against heart complications. But there are lots of other things you can do to reduce your risk of heart disease.
What can cause a heart attack?
Here we’ll explain what can happen in your body to cause these heart complications.
Let’s start with the major blood vessels in your body, these are your:
arteries – they carry blood away from your heart
veins – they carry blood back to your heart.
If these arteries and veins get damaged, it can be harder for blood to flow around the body and get to the areas it’s needed.
High cholesterol
If your cholesterol is too high, then the extra fat in your blood sticks to the walls of your blood vessels. Over time, this fat hardens and is known as plaque. Hard plaque can block up the blood vessels, which makes the space narrower and leaves less room for blood to flow.
This is called arteriosclerosis or atherosclerosis and is the most common cause of a heart attack.
In the narrower space, blood flow slows down and causes some of the blood cells to group together and clot. If a blood clot breaks away, it will travel through your arteries and veins until it reaches a section too narrow to pass through, making it partially or completely blocked.
This can starve the heart of oxygen and nutrients and this is what causes a heart attack.