The heart is a vital organ in charge of pumping blood to all organs of the body. Therefore, if there is heart disease, the performance of all organs of the body will be disturbed. If not treated immediately, heart disease has a high risk of causing dangerous complications, even death.
Heart disease is no longer a foreign topic to be discussed. Not only has the potential to be life-threatening, the treatment and medical care needed to treat this disease also requires no small amount of money.
What's more, heart problems can be experienced by anyone without exception, from the elderly, adults, to children. To protect yourself and your family from heart disease, you need to know the facts about heart disease and how to prevent it.
The Facts Behind Heart Disease in Indonesia
Heart disease, regardless of its type, is a serious health problem that requires immediate medical attention. If heart disease is left untreated, complications can occur in the form of heart attack, heart failure, and even death.
Apart from that, there are some other important facts for you to know about this disease:
1. The death rate from heart disease is still very high
The death rate caused by heart disease is no joke. Worldwide, heart disease is claimed to be the most common cause of death. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that in 2016 alone, more than 15 million people worldwide died from heart disease.
That fact is not much different from what happened in Indonesia. Heart disease is claimed to be the most common cause of death in Indonesia, in addition to stroke. It is estimated that 100,000–500,000 people die from heart disease every year.
2. The level of public knowledge about heart disease is still low
There are many factors that are thought to cause the high mortality rate from heart disease in Indonesia. One of these factors is the lack of knowledge and understanding of the community about heart disease.
According to data compiled by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia in 2018, it is estimated that only about 20% of Indonesians have a good understanding of health, including heart disease.
Lack of understanding about health makes many people vulnerable to heart disease. One of the effects of a lack of understanding of heart health and disease is that it is difficult to recognize the symptoms of heart disease.
3. Handling heart disease which is often late
Due to the low level of knowledge and understanding of heart disease in the community, many people perceive the symptoms of heart disease, such as chest pain, cold sweats, and nausea, as symptoms of mild disease.
As a result, heart disease is left untreated, leading to complications in the form of heart attacks and death.
4. Knowledge related to heart disease prevention is still low
Another disadvantage that can be experienced by someone due to a lack of understanding of health is not being able to avoid the risk factors for heart disease.
As a result, there are still many people who lead unhealthy lifestyles or habits that can increase their risk for heart disease, such as frequently eating foods high in salt and fat, being lazy to exercise, and rarely seeing a doctor.medicalcheck-up).
For some of the reasons above, doctors often recommend that health checks and heart checks should be carried out as early as possible and routinely, especially for people who are at high risk of suffering from heart disease, for example people who suffer from obesity, hypertension, diabetes, or high cholesterol.
The goal is of course to evaluate the condition of the disease and treat it quickly if a heart problem is detected, so that complications do not occur due to heart disease.
Changing Your Lifestyle to Prevent Heart Disease
A healthy lifestyle is one of the main keys to reducing the risk of various diseases, including heart disease. Therefore, it is important for you to start living a healthier lifestyle from now on in the following ways:
- Consuming a healthy balanced nutritious diet and limiting the consumption of salt, sugar, and saturated fatty foods that contain lots of cholesterol
- Get used to exercising regularly, at least 30 minutes a day
- Do not smoke, avoid cigarette smoke, and reduce consumption of alcoholic beverages
- Adequate rest time, at least 7–9 hours a day for adults and 8–11 hours a day for children and adolescents
- Managing stress
Also complete the above heart disease prevention efforts by regularly checking your health to the doctor, especially if you are at risk of heart disease.
This is important so that doctors can detect early if there is heart disease and treat it as early as possible. The sooner heart disease is treated, the lower the risk of dangerous heart disease complications.
In addition, considering the cost of treatment and care for heart disease is quite large, there is nothing wrong with you considering having health insurance.
If necessary, also complete with critical illness insurance which can covercover in early and late stages without limiting the number of critical illnesses, including heart disease.
This type of insurance will provide financial support (compensation costs) when you experience disability and require action and treatment due to suffering from a critical illness according to the provisions of the insurance policy. In fact, when you can no longer carry out activities, other living expenses can be covered.cover by this type of insurance.
However, make sure you choose insurance that suits your needs and first read clearly the policies of the insurance company before you agree to it.
