Men’s Health – Ischaemic Heart Disease

We are all familiar with the cause of a heart attack (not enough blood getting to the heart) or stroke (not enough blood getting to the brain). How does this happen?

Atherosclerosis is the build up of plaque in the vessels carrying blood to the brain or heart. A good diet and lots of exercise are important to keep plaque to a minimum. The tricky bit comes when Men start to age a little, their capacity to exercise diminishes somewhat due to general aches and pains, accumulation of small injuries over many years or degeneration of joints.  This coincides with a Man’s time of life when he is more vulnerable to a heart attack or stroke. Therefore, there is an acute need to not allow these relatively innocuous ailments to reduce exercise capacity.

Strategies to improve exercise tolerance includes

1. Finding the correct type exercise for a Man’s capacity. e.g. if walking/running is too hard then try cycling or swimming

3. Finding the correct intensity of exercise to match a Man’s capacity. e.g. if walking up and down hills is too much then walk on the flat.

2. Get professional medical help to deal with musculoskeletal problems to allow better exercise capacity

Men’s Health is gathering momentum in the general community. Men have a much higher prevalence of Ischaemic Heart Disease than Women. When basic solutions can make a big difference Men need to devote enough attention to themselves to keep exercising from middle to old age.