Six Popular Foods That Are High In Sodium: An American Heart Association Infographic

The infographic from the American Heart Association highlights the six popular foods that have high levels of sodium. These are bread and rolls, cold cuts, cured meat, pizza, poultry, soup, and sandwiches.

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AHA Infographic: Love Your Heart Help Your Brain

As part of their "Love your heart, help your brain" campaign, the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) released a new infographic highlighting the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables.

The infographic cites new research that drives home the fact that eating fruits and vegetables, around 4 to 5 servings a day based on a 2000 calorie diet, may prevent the risk of stroke and improve health.

The campaign aims to boost the consumption of fruits and vegetables worldwide to reduce the global impact of stroke.

Learn more about how to understand more about the risk factors that affect stroke at StrokeAssociation.org/prevent.

Men Lead A Better Quality Of Life After A Stroke Than Women

Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center find that men lead a better quality of life than women after have a stroke. Three months after suffering a stroke, the study shows that women were more likely than men to report problems with mobility, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression.

According to the American Heart Association. women face higher risk of stroke than men with 1 out of 5 women experiencing a stroke sometime in her life. They also note that 55,000 more women than men suffer from a stroke each year. It is the 3rd cause of death for women while it is the 4th for men.

A stroke is a condition when blood to the brain is cut off. Because of this, the brain is deprived of oxygen and immediately starts to deteriorate. Stroke victims suffer physical impairment, mood and behavioral swings, and bouts of depression afterwards. Rehabilitation is a long journey for stroke victims

Quality of life refers to the well being of a person. With regards to healthcare, it includes the physical and mental health perceptions, functional status, social support, and socioeconomic status.

What is Atrial Fibrillation - An American Heart Association Infographic

The American Heart Association released an infographic on atrial fibrilation to further inform people as well as bridge knowledge gaps on the condition.

Atrial Fibrillation, AF or Afib, is a condition where the the heart's atria beats too fast and irregularly. Afib is the most common type of arrhythmia (the condition where the heart beats too fast, too slow, or at an irregular pace).

The atria is the heart's two upper chambers. In atrial fibrillation, the blood pools in the atria and does not get completely pumped to the ventricles, which are the two lower chambers.

Unless checked, people may not notice that they have atrial fibrillation. As the AHA Infographic states, 90% of afib patients find about afib from their doctors. Afib is a health risk as 15% to 20% of strokes are attributed to it.

Treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) depends the symptoms, severity, and whether the person already has heart disease. General treatment for afib include medicines, medical procedures, pacemakers, and lifestyle changes.

American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity - Infographic

The American Heart Association released an infographic on its recommendations for adult physical activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

With today's more sedentary lifestyle at home and at work, it is a challenge for most adults to be physically active. Regular physical activity reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke. Aside from that, it also reduces other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, excess body weight and diabetes.

Any regular physical activity from climbing stairs, walking the dog, or just stretching can have have a positive effect on the body.

Dr. Russell Pate, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Exercise at the University of South Carolina notes that one of the great public health challenges of this century is building back physical activity back into a person's daily life. “Our bodies were designed to be physically active, and they don’t do well with long-term exposure to sedentary living. Lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease”, he adds.

The infographic gives a general outline on the AHA's recommendations for regular physical activity that would help bring about a healthy adult lifestyle.

American Heart Association Releases 2014 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update

The American Heart Association (AHA) with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies compiled the 2014 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update. The report is the only source for current prevalence data on cardiovascular health and is published in the journal, Circulation.

The AHA statistical report updates statistics on heart disease, stroke, other vascular diseases and their risk factors.

With one in six deaths in the US resulting from heart disease, it is the number one cause of death in the U.S. Stroke is the 4th ranking cause of death in the US with one in nineteen deaths.

AHA News: Women's Awareness of Heart Disease On The Rise But Still Needs Improvement

According to a study by the American Heart Association, women's awareness of the risks of heart disease has doubled in the last fifteen years. But for minorities and younger women, that does not seem to be the case.

Heart disease is a growing concern among adults. In the United States, 18% of the adult population consider heart disease a major health problem. According to the American Heart Association, each year, around 785,000 in the US suffer their first heart attack.

The AHA's Go Red For Women campaign (now on its 10th year), encourages women to be aware of the risk for heart disease and provides tools to lead a heart healthy life. Go Red For Women has lots of ways to participate in helping all women make healthy choices.

AHA Infographic: Stroke By The Numbers

The American Heart Association released Heart and Stroke Infographics to help spread the word about heart disease and stroke. These infographics visually represent information that can help educate the public on the prevention and treatment of heart related conditions.

The Stroke By The Numbers Infographic focuses on the stroke statistics in the United States as well as the reaction statistics of people at risk or experiencing a stroke attack. Stroke by the Numbers emphasizes the importance of being aware of the disease as well as identifying risk factors involved with it.

Stroke is Preventable, Treatable, and Beatable: A Stroke Infographic By The AHA and ASA

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), stroke is the leading cause of long term disability among adults in the U.S. Every 40 seconds, someone suffers a stroke. In the U.S alone, 795,000 Americans suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death with someone dying of a stroke every four minutes. It kills about 128,000 people annually.

But stroke can be prevented. Statistics from the AHA and ASA show that 80% of strokes can be prevented. By simply lowering blood pressure by an average of 10 mmHg on both systolic and diastolic, the risk of a stroke and ischemic heart disease goes down by about 50%.

Also monitoring daily sodium intake and limiting it to just around 1500 mg of sodium per day can also help.

This infographic from the AHA and the ASA summarizes all this info in a visual way.

AHA Study Shows Eating Flavonoid Rich Berries Reduce Heart Attack Risk in Women by 30%

A study released by the American Heart Association shows that women who ate at least three servings of blueberries and strawberries per week reduce their risk of a heart attack by 30%.

Flavonoids are organic chemicals that are found in plants. These nutrients have beneficial effects on the human body. Chemicals that are found naturally in plants are called phytochemicals.

Berries, tea, apples, soy food, and red wine are some of the food that are rich in flavonoids.

The Zutphen Elderly Study, the Seven Countries Study and a cohort study in Finland show that consuming flavonoid has an inverse effect with coronary disease. Results of the study show that people who consumed about five to six cups of flavonoid-rich tea per day had a lower death rate from heart disease than people with a low intake of flavonoids.

The link between flavonoids and coronary heart disease like atherosclerosis (the accumulation of fat deposits in the arteries), may be due to the antioxidant properties of flavonoids. Flavonoids also have been shown to inhibit the aggregation and adhesion of platelets in blood, which may be another way they lower the risk of heart disease. Soy foods which contains isoflavones (a major flavonoid category) have been reported to lower plasma cholesterol and also to have effects similar to estrogen.

American Heart Association Infographics on Heart Disease

The American Heart Association released a series of infographics to disseminate information about stroke and heart disease. The series focused on risks and statistics about the disease.

The two infographics posted are about the facts and risks of heart disease as illustrated by numbers and statistics. There is also has a PSA video on heart attack featuring Elizabeth Banks.

The mission of the American Heart Association is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. The infographics are part of AHA's drive to educate and raise awareness on the dangers of heart disease and the steps to lead a healthy life.

The release of these AHA infographics are designed towards a fast and easy to understand means of spreading information without overcomplicating it.

Infographics are becoming a popular way to spread and explain information, data, or facts about a particular topic. They are graphic visual representations of these. The process of creating infographics can be referred to as data visualization, information design, or information architecture.

Post Stroke Depression Increases Risk of Death By A Factor of Three

Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability for 2012 in the U.S. This is according to the American Heart Association.

The most widely recognized risk factors for stroke are diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and lack of exercise. But these factors does not fully account for the excess stroke risk observed in the population. Drug and alcohol use are some of the factors that are not as documented.

There are also factors that affect the risk of stroke that cannot be controlled. These are age, sex, race, and family and medical history.

For people who suffered a stroke, the number of risk factors of suffering another stroke increase. One factor that is being studied is depression.

Depression results from the frustration of not being able to live normally after a stroke. The need for medical care, temporary paralysis, cognitive problems, and motor and speech impediments are some of the results of a stroke. This affects the patient as the treatment and therapy process is long and difficult. Depression sets in because of this.

Post-stroke depression (PSD) is considered the most frequent and important neuropsychiatric consequence of stroke.

Virulent Form of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) Bacteria May Protect Against Stroke and Cancer

Researchers suggest that an especially virulent strain of the gut bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)may protect stroke and some types of cancer.

A stroke is a disease where blockages (called clots) in the artery obstruct the flow of blood to the brain. Without the blood that carries oxygen and nutrients to it, brain cells start to die and may cause permanent damage.

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. The most popular type of stroke are Ischemic strokes. 87% of all strokes are of this type.

The American Heart Association defines it as an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain. This is due to the development of fatty deposits lining the vessel walls. This condition is called atherosclerosis.

Depending on what part of the brain is affected, cognitive and physical activities deteriorate. If the stroke affects the right side of the brain the following may occur:

• Paralysis on the left side of the body
• Vision problems
• Quick, inquisitive behavioral style
• Memory loss

If the left brain is affected, the person may experience the following:

• Paralysis on the right side of the body
• Speech/language problems
• Slow, cautious behavioral style
• Memory loss

There are some cases where the stroke targets the brain stem. This would result in having both sides of the brain are affected. Patients who experience this would experience total paralysis from the neck down and would be unable to speak.

Treatment for stroke victims should be immediate. The patient must be in the hospital where anti-clot medication is administered within 3 hours of experiencing symptoms.

Long term treatment requires physical, cognitive, and psychological therapy as well as medication to avoid future strokes.

Being Aware and Preventing Heart Disease: An Infographic From The American Heart Association

The American Heart Association's mission is to build healthier lives free of heart disease.

As the saying goes, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. With medical advancements on cardiovascular care, nothing beats taking good care of the heart. Knowing the risk factors, the steps to preventing heart disease, as well as making an effort to follow these steps can greatly improve one's well-being and lead a healthy life.

This is the first of a series of infographics released by the American Heart Association to promote heart care awareness: What Are My Chances Of Getting Heart Disease - 3 Questions.

American Heart Association Names Top 10 Advances in Heart Disease and Stroke Research for 2012

Since 1996, the American Heart Association has been compiling a list of the years top 10 major advances in heart disease and stroke research. They recently released the top 10 advances in heart disease and stroke research for 2012.

The American Heart Association advocates healthy living to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. They publish a standard for providing basic and advanced life support, including standards for proper performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Technological especially medical advances in heart disease and research has grown leaps and bounds. With this, progress in the care, treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease has also improved.

From 1999 to 2009, the death rate from cardiovascular disease (CVD) went down by 33%. But despite the decline, CVD still takes the lives of more than 2,150 Americans each day, an average of 1 death every 40 seconds.

In the same period, the death rate caused by stroke went down 37% and the actual number of stroke deaths declined by 23%. Stroke is still the 4th leading cause of death in the United States and the 1st leading cause of disability.

The AHA recently released the top 10 advances in heart disease and stroke research for 2012. These are:

1. Extended CPR saves lives
2. Converting “non beating” heart cells into “beating” heart cells
3. Biopsied heart cells improved heart function and reduced scars
4. “Disconnecting” the kidneys might be the key to treating high blood pressure
5. Progress for children in transplant bridging and Kawasaki Disease
6. Why children and adolescents should “just say no” to sugary drinks
7. Global impact: ECHO screening for rheumatic heart disease
8. Devices for stroke
9. Ideal cardiovascular health practices lead to longer life, lower risk
10. Bypass surgery vs. drug-coated stents for diabetes patients

A more detailed overview of the topics are covered below.

Children With Heart Devices May Benefit From Psychotherapy In Coping With Lower Quality of Life

Children with heart conditions and carry an implantable cardiac device (ICD) may benefit from psychotherapy to deal with a lower quality of life based on their self perception, self worth, and athletic ability.

Implantable Cardiac Devices (ICD) are used to treat heart conditions such as arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). Pacemakers and implanted defibrillators to ensure that the heart is beating normally at all times.

Having an ICD and coping with the change in lifestyle it brings is an ongoing process. It affects the person both physically and psychologically.

Most patients with ICD have frequent anxiety whether the device is working or not. And even in the event that the device such as the implanted defibrillator does work, it doubles the patient's stress levels.

Transcendental Meditation Increases Survival Rate in Heart Patients And Reduces Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack

New research show that heart disease patients who regularly practice transcendental meditation reduces the risk of death, heart attack, and stroke.

Meditation is a practice where the person produces a deep state of relaxation, tranquility, and calmness. It is done by focusing attention to a mental image, train of thought, calming word or phrase, or imagining oneself in a calming situation. Meditation also requires removing oneself from stress and distractions during the practice.

iPhone App Takes ECG Reading For Monitoring Heart and Atrial Fibrillation Diagnosis

An iPhone application that takes electrocardiogram (ECG) readings that is vital to diagnosing for atrial fibrillation was presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2012.

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a type of arrhythmia (irregular beating of the heart) where the patient suffers from a rapid beating of the heart combined with poor blood flow. This leads to an increased risk of suffering from a stroke up to as much as seven times the average.