Heart Stress Test: Measuring Your Heart's Tolerance To Stress
Our heart weakens as we grow older. According to studies, men over the age of 40 and women who are over the age of 50 are more prone to heart attacks compared to their younger counterparts. If you are one of those people who already belong to the high risk age group, you should talk to your doctor about getting a heart stress test to measure your heart's tolerance to stress. Getting a heart stress test is very important especially if you have been living a sedentary life and you have not really been careful about your diet for the past years.
If you have a strong family history of heart diseases or if you have some medical conditions that could lead to complications, with more reason that you should take a heart stress test even if you are not yet within the high risk age group. According to experts, some heart conditions have genetic origins thus if you have members of the family who died of heart attacks, you too are at a risk of suffering the same fate. It is therefore important that you know how much stress your can heart tolerant to help you avoid any circumstances that can lead to a heart attack.
How Safe Is A Heart Stress Test?
According to experts, a heart stress test is quite safe. Note that during the entire procedure, your doctor will monitor your heart closely for any signs of fatigue. If you get extremely tired during the test and your heart begins to show some signs stress, your doctor will stop the test right away so you need not really worry about being driven to the point where you actually have a heart attack. Besides, your doctor will subject you to a screening before the test so he or she already has some ideas of what your heart is capable of. According to statistic, only one in every 2,500 patients who go through the test is likely to have a heart attack during the test. Considering that very low statistics and the precautions that your doctor will take to safeguard your well-being, you can feel safe about taking the test.
Is It Possible To Go Through A Heart Stress Test After You Had A Heart Attack?
According to experts, people who have had mild heart attacks should undergo heart tress test. The results of the test can greatly help the doctors come up with a treatment program for these people. However, patients who have had severe heart attacks may not be subjected to this type of test.
