Lake Regional Health System | Thrive | Winter 2020

The death rate for heart disease in the U.S. has been falling since 1970. Advances in research, better treatments and fewer people smoking are some of the reasons for this progress. Fast facts on heart disease When it comes to HDL, the good cholesterol, higher is better. One way to raise it? Research suggests that laughter may make HDL go up while making stress hormones go down. Heart disease continues to be the No. 1 cause of death in Missouri and the United States. Even people with a high genetic risk for heart attack can cut their risk in half by following a healthy lifestyle, which includes not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, getting regular exercise and eating a healthy diet. Only about half of women in the U.S. know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in American women. Sources: American Heart Association; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; The New England Journal of Medicine , Vol. 375, No. 24 LOVE YOUR HEART! Get your heart checked at our cardiovascular screening on Saturday, Feb. 15, at Lake Regional Hospital. Register at lakeregional.com/loveyourheart . has a deflated balloon at its tip. When it reaches the narrowed or blocked part of the artery, the cardiologist inflates the balloon to compress the blockage. “You’ve likely heard of someone with heart trouble getting a stent,” Maxwell says. “This is a wire mesh tube that gets inserted during angio- plasty and stays in place when the catheters are removed. The stent helps hold the artery open.” Sources: American Heart Association; National Institutes of Health hospitals nationwide lakeregional.com 7