Myocardial infarction is as fierce as a tiger. How should the elderly prevent it?

In recent years, with the increase in the number of elderly people in my country, the incidence of myocardial infarction has increased year by year, posing a serious threat to people's health. Acute and severe myocardial infarction may cause the patient's death. Therefore, everyone must be worried about whether the disease will happen to themselves or their relatives and friends. So, what exactly is myocardial infarction? What are its inducing factors? For the elderly, how to prevent this disease? The following will take you to learn about the knowledge of myocardial infarction.

1. What is myocardial infarction?

Myocardial infarction is ischemic necrosis of the myocardium. It is caused by a sharp reduction or interruption of coronary artery blood supply on the basis of coronary artery lesions, which causes severe and persistent acute ischemia of the corresponding myocardium and leads to myocardial necrosis. Clinically, it is often manifested as persistent and severe pain behind the sternum, accompanied by progressive electrocardiogram changes and elevated serum myocardial injury markers. Arrhythmias, cardiogenic shock or heart failure may often occur, which is a severe type of coronary heart disease.

The picture comes from the Internet

2. What are the main symptoms of myocardial infarction?

The clinical manifestations of acute myocardial infarction are often more prominent, mainly manifested by sudden chest pain, chest tightness, shortness of breath, precordial discomfort, pale complexion, irritability, cold skin and other symptoms. These conditions last for a relatively long time. When the above manifestations occur, you must be alert to whether an acute myocardial infarction has occurred.

2. What are the factors that induce myocardial infarction ?

1. Emotional tension and excitement

The Neijing states that "all diseases are caused by qi". Emotions have a significant impact on human health. When the elderly experience drastic emotional fluctuations, such as tension, excitement, and anger, they can cause vasoconstriction, increase heart rate, cause myocardial hypoxia and ischemia, and induce myocardial infarction.

2. Cold stimulation:

Climate change is an important factor in inducing myocardial infarction. On the one hand, cold stimulation can easily make the elderly highly excited, causing high blood pressure, accelerated heart rate, and increased cardiac hypoxia index. The diseased coronary arteries cannot increase blood supply according to the needs of the heart, which can easily cause coronary spasm. In addition, body temperature stimulation can increase the secretion of catecholamines in the human body and increase blood viscosity, thereby increasing the risk of thrombosis and platelet aggregation.

3. Overwork

If the elderly do physical labor that they are not capable of (such as climbing stairs with weights, lifting heavy objects excessively, etc.), it will significantly increase the burden on the heart and increase myocardial oxygen demand. At this time, if the elderly already have coronary artery stenosis and hardening, they cannot fully expand, causing myocardial ischemia in the short term, causing coronary artery spasm, and vice versa, promoting myocardial hypoxia and worsening, which can cause myocardial infarction in severe cases.

4. Overeating

Eating a large amount of high-calorie, high-fat food will cause the body's blood lipid concentration and blood viscosity to increase, causing platelet aggregation, thereby increasing the risk of thrombosis and myocardial infarction.

The picture comes from the Internet

3. How can the elderly prevent myocardial infarction?

1. Pay attention to climate change

Most elderly people have multiple underlying diseases, their body functions are declining, and their immunity and resistance are reduced. Under such circumstances, they are susceptible to external factors that cause diseases. In cold climates, most patients are prone to coronary artery spasm, thrombosis and other conditions, which in turn cause myocardial infarction. Drastic climate changes will make it difficult for most people to adapt, especially when accompanied by low pressure conditions, some elderly people will experience obvious discomfort symptoms. From the perspective of medical research, strong winds, low temperatures, and rainy weather are all important factors that induce myocardial infarction. Therefore, if the elderly want to do a good job in preventing myocardial infarction, they must pay attention to climate change conditions. When encountering severe weather, they must do a good job of keeping themselves warm and cold, and at the same time ensure that they drink enough water, with a daily water intake of >2000mL and a urine volume of >1000mL. If necessary, they must take coronary dilation drugs as prescribed by a doctor.

2. Moderate exercise

Adherence to moderate exercise is an effective measure to prevent myocardial infarction. The elderly should exercise scientifically based on their actual conditions, and carry out physical exercise at least three times or more per week. There is no absolute standard for exercise time and amount. As long as the physical fitness allows, ensure that each exercise lasts more than 30 minutes and less than one hour, not too much or too little. Exercise methods can be gymnastics, walking, jogging, Tai Chi, etc. Exercise is carried out in the afternoon. Most people are accustomed to morning activities, but because the coronary artery tension is higher in the morning and the sympathetic nerve excitability is stronger, exercise at this time will increase the risk of myocardial infarction or angina pectoris. Therefore, physical exercise for the elderly should be carried out in the afternoon, and after exercise, they should not take a bath with too hot or too cold water, and they should ensure that the elderly have no discomfort after exercise. The elderly should warm up before exercise and do stretching and relaxation activities after exercise. Appropriate exercise can enhance the cardiopulmonary function of the elderly, promote the improvement of myocardial blood supply, and prevent myocardial infarction.

The picture comes from the Internet

3. Pay attention to controlling your emotions

The elderly should manage their emotions in their daily lives. Don't be impatient or anxious. Don't stay at home. In your spare time, participate in social activities, such as square dancing, communicating with family members, gathering and chatting with friends. Don't give yourself the opportunity to think about random things. Keep your mind active at all times and maintain an optimistic and positive attitude.

4. Change your bad living habits

There is a close relationship between the occurrence of myocardial infarction and the lifestyle and habits of the elderly. When people reach old age, their physical functions are significantly reduced, and their activity and activity level are significantly reduced. If they want to ensure their own health, they need to control their diet, spirit, sleep and other aspects. Self-regulation in these aspects has a very important impact on the prevention of myocardial infarction in the elderly. From the perspective of dietary regulation, the elderly need to have a reasonable combination of three meals a day, especially to limit the intake of fat. For high-fat seafood, fatty meat, egg yolks, cream, etc., they need to eat less, and can eat more vegetables, brown rice, etc. From the perspective of living habits, the elderly can drink in moderation, but they must control the amount of drinking and quit smoking. Harmful substances in smoke will increase the risk of coronary artery spasm in the elderly. At the same time, the elderly should actively participate in social activities, such as square dancing and Tai Chi. In addition, the elderly are prone to constipation due to factors such as the decline of physical functions and slow gastrointestinal motility. This phenomenon makes it easy for the elderly to strain during defecation, which can cause a rapid increase in abdominal pressure, prompting changes in the sympathetic nerves, resulting in abnormal myocardial blood supply, thereby increasing the risk of myocardial infarction. Therefore, the elderly need to pay attention to constipation and actively deal with and improve it.

5. Drug prevention

Drug intervention is an effective measure to prevent myocardial infarction in the elderly. First of all, the elderly should have a comprehensive understanding of their own conditions. They need to go to the hospital regularly for comprehensive examinations to check whether there are abnormal biochemical indicators or related diseases that induce myocardial infarction, and use drugs to intervene in time. For the elderly who have already developed atherosclerotic plaques, it is particularly important to do a good job in preventing atherosclerotic plaques. At present, the clinical method of taking small doses of aspirin to control plaque formation is more safe. For the elderly at risk of myocardial infarction, it is necessary to take it as soon as possible; for the elderly with dyslipidemia, statins can be added to lower blood lipids, and Chinese medicine can also be used for auxiliary treatment. Chinese medicine can choose Chinese patent medicines that are more acceptable to patients, such as aromatic Wentong. The role of such drugs is to inhibit plaque formation, protect blood vessels, and prevent plaque rupture. The representative drug is Musk Heart Pills; another example is Chinese patent medicines for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, such as Danshen Tablets and Danshen Dripping Pills. Such drugs can play the role of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis and preventing blood vessel blockage.

Conclusion : For the elderly, it is extremely important to do a good job in preventing myocardial infarction. The elderly need to prevent it from many aspects, such as controlling diet, regulating emotions, and exercising moderately. They should master the signs of myocardial infarction and emergency self-help knowledge, and seek medical treatment in time to reduce the harm caused by the disease.