BOG-Official-2023
BOG-Official-2023

Heart Health

Prevention Tips for American Stroke Awareness Month

A Statistical Look at Heart Disease During American Heart MonthStroke awareness is incredibly important for adults in the US. And while many people consider strokes something that can only affect people later in life, the truth is that simply is not the case. Strokes occur as a result of a clot that prevents blood from reaching the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain is ruptured. Although strokes remain among the most common causes of death and long-term disability in the US, there is a lot that most people don’t know about them and what can be done to prevent them. So for National Stroke Awareness month this May, our healthcare providers here at Abraham Family Medicine wanted to share a few simple steps to help our readers prevent strokes before they may occur.

Maintain a Healthy Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (or hypertension) is the leading cause of strokes for adults. And since over half of all men and nearly half of all women in the US have high blood pressure according to the American Heart Association, this is obviously not something to take lightly. Thankfully, there is a lot that you can do to manage and keep tabs on your blood pressure. In addition to making the necessary lifestyle adjustments to lower your blood pressure, it’s critical to monitor your blood pressure at home and speak with your healthcare provider about what more you can be doing.

Be Proactive in Stroke Prevention

The earlier you take the risk of developing a stroke seriously, the more effective your prevention efforts will be. Somewhere between 10%-15% of all strokes occur in adults before they turn 50, and the risk of an early stroke is even more prevalent among African American patients.

So with this in mind, practicing healthy lifestyle habits can be an excellent preventive measure against strokes. This includes exercising daily (at least 30 minutes of activity), eating healthy (myplate.gov can help get you started), and keeping tabs on your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels (many smartwatch apps can help with these things). Even modest steps in the right direction can pay major dividends in the long run.

Cut Out Smoking & Drinking

Both smoking and drinking alcohol regularly can increase a person’s risk of experiencing a stroke. They can also contribute to other health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure that are highly associated with strokes. A moderate level of drinking can be ok from time to time, but no amount of smoking or use of other nicotine products is healthy.

Be Aware of the Symptoms

While this might not technically help you prevent a stroke, it’s essential information in the case that one should occur. The five main symptoms of a stroke that everyone should know are:

  • Sudden feelings of numbness or weakness in the face, arms, or legs (especially on one side of the body)

  • Sudden confusion or difficulty speaking

  • Sudden vision issues and difficulty seeing out of one or both eyes

  • Sudden trouble walking, balance issues, or dizziness

  • Sudden and severe headache

It’s important to discuss stroke prevention with your healthcare provider during annual appointments and see if there is anything more you can be doing to help fend off a stroke before it’s too late. For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact Abraham Family Medicine. Our office is located in Snellville, not far from Grayson, Dacula, and Lilburn.

These Nutrition Tips Can Help Improve Overall Health & Wellness

plastic-heart-and-stethoscopeIt should not come as a surprise that nutrition is an integral part of long-term health and wellness. As the old saying goes, “You are what you eat.” But with so much information available online and the complicated nature of nutrition, it can be easy to get confused when it comes to healthy eating. There can even be conflicting opinions among qualified experts, which can make things even more challenging for people. However, some nutrition essentials are simply a matter of fact, and anyone can benefit from taking the following nutrition tips to heart.

Prioritize Fiber Intake

Fiber is one of the most important nutrients there is. Eating fiber helps maintain digestive health while also helping to make us feel fuller longer, which can prevent overeating and excessive snacking. Fiber can also help control blood sugar and lower cholesterol levels. Some foods that are rich in fiber include fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. Like author Michael Pollan has said, “Came from a plant, eat it; was made in a plant, don’t.“

Avoid Added Sugars

It’s natural to have a bit of a sweet tooth and sugar in general can be difficult to avoid. But added sugars are a different story. Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added to foods and drinks when they are processed or prepared (as opposed to sugars that occur naturally in certain foods). This includes products like cane juice, corn syrup, dextrose, and fructose. Consuming too much added sugar can contribute to weight gain, and serious health conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. As a tip, drink water instead of sugary sodas or juices, and consider low-sugar alternatives to products like maple syrup and honey when possible. The best thing you can do is read labels to ensure the content is low when it comes to added sugar.

Try to Eat Out Less

We all love eating out at restaurants, but there can be significant nutritional advantages to planning and preparing more of your own meals. Doing so can help maintain the balance of your diet, while avoiding unhealthy ingredients like too much butter and salt. Eating at home also helps manage portion control. As an added bonus, eating fewer meals in restaurants can also provide some relief to your bank account.

Eat a Wide Variety of Colors

One thing we often recommend to people is to make sure when they’re eating a meal, that there is a variety of different-colored foods on their plate. Green vegetables are crucial, but fruits like oranges and tomatoes are also loaded with vitamins, fiber, and other great nutrients. Some starchy white foods like bread and potatoes can be fine in moderation as long as they are part of a balanced and colorful diet.

Here at Abraham Family Medicine, the health and wellbeing of our patients is always our top priority. This is why in addition to health advice like this, we offer comprehensive diagnostic testing to help our patients gain a full understanding of their health and risk factors for potential health concerns. For more information or to schedule an appointment with one of our expert healthcare providers, contact Abraham Family Medicine. Our office is located in Snellville, not far from Grayson, Dacula, and Lilburn.

4 Potentially Life-Saving Heart Disease Prevention Tips

heart-iconFebruary is almost here, which means it is nearly American Heart Month once again. Here at Abraham Family Medicine, our healthcare providers pride themselves on being able to educate our readers about health concerns like heart disease, in an effort to help them prevent these issues before they develop. We thought it would be helpful today to provide some general heart disease prevention tips as a means of helping our readers prepare to live a heart healthy lifestyle.

Eat Right & Exercise

The best thing anyone can do to prevent heart disease is to eat a heart healthy diet and get regular daily exercise. We recommend a healthy diet rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean proteins like salmon. Additionally, 30 to 60 minutes of even moderate physical activity is incredibly important in preventing and reducing the risk of heart disease. Even simple things like housework or a neighborhood walk will do.

Keep Tabs On Your Vital Signs

Many common indicators of a person’s overall health can indicate an increased risk of heart disease. Specifically, high blood pressure and higher than normal cholesterol levels. It’s important to keep daily records on your blood pressure and get your cholesterol checked regularly based on your provider’s recommendation to make sure they are at a safe and healthy level.

Understand Your Risk Factors

Every person’s individual risk of heart disease is different. However, there are some universal risk factors that people should be aware of. Advanced age, being overweight, and smoking are known risk factors for heart disease. As is a family history of heart diseases. High stress levels can also increase a person’s risk, so developing healthy stress management techniques can be crucial.

Discuss Heart Health at Annual Appointments

You don’t need to fight alone in your effort to prevent heart disease. During annual check-up appointments, be proactive and bring up heart health as a discussion topic. Even if you’re not currently experiencing any issues, discussing all of your available preventative measures against heart disease with a healthcare professional can be incredibly educational and beneficial in the long-run.

Our hope is that our readers will take these tips to heart and do everything they can to promote heart health and wellness in the days ahead. Meeting with your healthcare provider for an annual wellness check-up is a great first step in the fight against heart disease. For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact Abraham Family Medicine. Our office is located in Snellville, not far from Grayson, Dacula, and Lilburn.

How Does Stress Affect a Person’s Health?

What to Know During Stress Awareness Month this AprilIn honor of Stress Awareness Month this upcoming April, the healthcare providers here at Abraham Family Medicine wanted to take some time to talk about stress and the many ways that it can affect a person’s health. When it comes to a person’s health, the body and mind are very closely connected. Being overly stressed, or not understanding how to properly manage your stress, can affect a person’s mood and emotional wellbeing, while also contributing to potentially serious health conditions. We wanted to take some time to get specific about stress and what it actually does to the body as well as offer a few helpful tips to manage it.

When a person experiences a stressful situation, this sets off a reaction in the body where stress hormones can produce physiological changes. For example, experiencing stress can cause the heart to pound, muscles to tense up, and a person’s breathing to become faster. While the body is able to use these hormonal changes and physiological responses to either combat these effects, the body can also overreact to stress. And over time, repeated activation of this stress response can often take a toll on a person’s health and wellness.

Too much stress can lead to short-term and long-term health issues if not properly managed. Short-term health effects of stress include headaches, chest pains, stomach, and digestive issues, and tension in muscles all over the body. Being overly stressed for an extended period of time can increase a person’s risk of developing high blood pressure or experiencing a heart attack while weakening the immune system. Additionally, there is a connection between stress and fertility issues in both men and women.

Research suggests that chronic stress over the years can also have negative effects on a person’s mental health. This includes contributing to anxiety, depression, addiction, and sleep disorders.

While stress may be unavoidable, there are things that our providers recommend to help manage stress in a more healthy way. Getting regular daily exercise and eating a healthy, balanced diet are certainly helpful steps. Breathing techniques and meditation are also known to help reduce stress. As are taking a break from technology and giving your mind time to decompress during the day. The bottom line is to find or do healthful things that can allow you to reduce your stress levels. For more information on stress management or if you would like to schedule an appointment, please contact Abraham Family Medicine today. Our providers offer a wide variety of general healthcare services for patients of all ages at our Snellville office, located very close to Grayson, Dacula, and Lilburn.

Statistics to Know For American Heart Month

heart-iconHeart health should be of the utmost importance to any person concerned about their long-term health and wellbeing. The heart is among the most vital organs in the human body and a healthy heart is essential for healthy living. In honor of the upcoming American Heart Month this February, our healthcare providers at Abraham Family Medicine wanted to present some helpful and informative statistics about heart disease and its prevalence. After all, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the US year after year. All figures below were collected by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

  • Approximately every 36 seconds, one person in the United States dies from cardiovascular disease.
  • Roughly 659,000 Americans die from heart disease each year, meaning that it is responsible for about 1 in every 4 deaths annually.
  • Coronary artery disease is the most common form of heart disease, resulting in just under half of all heart disease deaths each year.
  • About 18.2 Americans above the age of 20 (nearly 7%) have coronary artery disease.
  • The overwhelming majority (about 80%) of coronary artery disease deaths happen in adults 65 and up.
  • Every year, roughly 805,000 people in the US (or one person every 40 seconds) have a heart attack.
  • About 1 in every 5 heart attacks is silent, meaning the person is not even aware that they have experienced it.
  • Heart disease costs the US about $363 billion annually, including the cost of healthcare services, medicines, and lost productivity due to illness and death.

With these statistics in mind, it’s helpful to remember that there are meaningful steps that can be taken to reduce a person’s risk of heart disease. We recommend maintaining a nutritious, balanced diet and getting regular daily exercise, or another form of physical activity, to help keep a healthy body weight. It’s important to speak to your healthcare provider about your cholesterol levels if they are elevated. Smoking and drinking alcohol in excess can also negatively impact heart health.

Meeting with your healthcare provider for an annual wellness check-up can provide a perfect opportunity to gain a better understanding of your heart health and learn what you can be doing better to promote long-term health and wellness. For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact Abraham Family Medicine. Our office is located in Snellville, not far from Grayson, Dacula, and Lilburn.

Ask the Doctors: Diagnostic Testing at Abraham Family Medicine

diagnostic testingDiagnostic testing is an incredibly powerful tool in the world of medicine. Before any treatment can begin, an accurate diagnosis must be confirmed. Here at Abraham Family Medicine, we perform several types of diagnostic testing in the comfort of our office to assist in caring for our patients. To further elaborate on the benefits this can provide our patients and their loved ones, our board-certified healthcare providers have taken time to answer a few questions about some of the types of diagnostic testing we offer.

Question #1: How Does In-Office Diagnostic Testing Benefit Patients?

Offering in-office diagnostic testing is often a major convenience for our patients. Doing so can save time (and additional costs) by eliminating the need for additional trips to a hospital or separate imaging center for something like an MRI or a CT scan. Additionally, this can help avoid potential complications associated with the patient’s health insurance.

Question #2: What Is The Difference Between An Echocardiogram & An Electrocardiogram (EKG)?

We use both echocardiograms and EKGs to detect and diagnose various forms of heart disease. However, the tests differ in what they specifically measure and capture. An echocardiogram uses ultrasound technology to depict pictures of the heart and provide information on the activity and function of the heart. An EKG traces the rhythm of a patient’s heartbeats to potentially detect underlying heart conditions like arrhythmias, heart defects, and coronary artery disease. Both tests can often be used in tandem to provide a more comprehensive picture of the patient’s heart health.

Question #3: Is It Safe To Undergo An X-Ray

While it’s true that x-ray technology exposes the patient to radiation, it is perfectly safe to undergo an x-ray to detect a potentially fractured bone. X-rays only use a low level of radiation and the risk of any cell damage is extremely low. Additionally, we fit our patients with protective materials including x-ray safe aprons to limit exposure to other areas of the body not being scanned.

Our providers have the experience and knowledge to optimize all diagnostic testing to the benefit of our patients. For more information on diagnostic testing or other health and wellness topics, please contact Abraham Family Medicine today to schedule an appointment. Our office is located in Snellville, not far from Grayson, Dacula, and Lilburn.

May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month!

High Blood Pressure Abraham Family Medicine

One of the most important things a person can do to aid their long-term health and wellbeing is to be aware of their blood pressure. Known medically as hypertension, high blood pressure is a common condition that occurs when a person’s blood pressure reaches a level that is considered unhealthy. High blood pressure is very common among adults in the US. And while some may feel that having high blood pressure isn’t such a big deal, high blood pressure can lead to many very serious health problems over time if left untreated. That’s why in honor of National High Blood Pressure Education Month we wanted to provide some helpful information on the subject for our readers.

Blood pressure measures the amount of blood that passes through the blood vessels and the amount of resistance the blood meets while the heart is pumping. The more blood that the heart pumps, the narrower the arteries get, and the higher the blood pressure is. A blood pressure reading has two numbers:

Systolic Pressure (top number) – measures the pressure in the arteries when the heartbeats.

Diastolic Pressure (bottom number) – measures the pressure in the arteries between heartbeats.

High blood pressure often develops slowly over the course of many years. In many cases, people with this condition do not experience any other symptoms. But high blood pressure can still damage the blood vessels and vital organs in asymptomatic people. While there may not be any specific, identifiable cause of high blood pressure, there are several risk factors that people should be aware of including advanced age, a family history of the condition, being overweight, a lack of physical activity, stress, abuse of tobacco, abuse of alcohol, and more.

High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart disease. Over time, high blood pressure can cause the arteries to harden and thicken, which can drastically increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke, or other serious complications. Additionally, by making it more difficult for the heart to pump blood, high blood pressure can also lead to heart failure. Untreated high blood pressure may also affect a person’s memory and cognition as they age, and even cause dementia.

All this is to say is that high blood pressure is very serious and not something that can be ignored. This is why it’s so important to speak with your healthcare provider about your blood pressure during annual check-up appointments and make healthy lifestyle choices to promote wellness. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact Abraham Family Medicine today. Our office is located in Snellville, not far from Grayson, Dacula, Lilburn and Loganville.

Menu