Asthma
Unlock The Asthma-Heart Disease Connection
May 25, 2017According to a new research published in the Journal of American Heart Association, people who get asthma as adults are more likely to develop heart disease and suffer a stroke. Let’s try and understand the connection between the two conditions. Can asthma cause heart problems ?
How Is Asthma Linked to Heart Disease?
- The symptoms of both asthma and heart failure include shortness of breath, severe chest pains and coughing. It is difficult to distinguish between the two at first glance.
- Both asthma and heart disease are caused by inflammation in the body.
- In the event of an asthma attack, the patient is also bound to show symptoms of severe chest pains because the flow of blood is compromised when the body is inflamed.
- Patients with active asthma are more likely to get a heart failure than those who have not had an asthma attack recently.
- Most cases of asthma linked to heart diseases were found in patients who had developed asthma as adults.
- Researchers found that patients with asthma had about a 70 percent higher risk of heart diseases than those without asthma.
The Connection Between Lungs And Heart
The lungs and the heart work very closely and are heavily dependent on each other. One of the primary functions of the heart is to supply oxygen to other parts of the body. And oxygen enters the body through lungs. So if there’s any issue with the health of your lungs, the heart has to work harder to circulate oxygen throughout the body. All of this means that healthy lungs play a critical role in heart health.
How to Improve Lung Health For Managing Asthma?
Simple preventive measures can help in controlling asthma, thereby reducing the risk of heart diseases.
- Foods like ginger, figs, and garlic help in reducing symptoms of asthma.
- Inhaling steam, which has been infused with eucalyptus oil, helps opens up the airways of the lungs.
- Adopting the right breathing technique can help in managing asthma. For example, the Buteyko Breathing Technique teaches people to breathe through the nose rather than through the mouth, thereby reducing the risks of respiratory illnesses.
- Yoga, meditation, and acupuncture can also help in getting relief from asthma.
Mahesh is a hormone health counsellor & holistic health expert. He has a Mastery Certification in Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis from the US, is certified in Functional Nutrition from Washington State University and uses a wide array of healing modalities to guide his clients to vibrant health and well-being.
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References:
American Heart Association; Active asthma may significantly raise risk of heart attack. 2014 Nov, 16: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/active-asthma-may-significantly-raise-risk-of-heart-attack
American Heart Association; Late-onset asthma linked to increased heart disease, stroke risk. 2016 Aug, 24: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/late-onset-asthma-linked-to-increased-heart-disease-stroke-risk
