Heart Health

100% 100%

The heart is one of the most important organs in the human body. Located in the chest on the left, the heart pumps blood throughout the body via the circulatory system, supplying oxygen and nutrients.

A healthy heart is essential to good health. In fact, a healthy human heart beats about 100,000 times a day, with an average adult’s heart beating about 60 to 80 times per minute.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a term that houses all conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels.

Empowering Yourself with Knowledge

This resource provides information about heart health, including:

Importance of Heart Health: Understand the importance of maintaining your heart health.
Common Heart Disease: Learn about the different types of common heart diseases and their characteristics.
Key Risk Factors: Explore various modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors that may leave you susceptible to heart disease.
Ways to Improve Heart Health: Learn about lifestyle factors and preventive measures to minimize your risk of heart disease.

What is Heart Health?

Heart health is the overall well-being of your cardiovascular system, which consists of your heart and blood vessels. It encompasses the prevention, diagnosis, and management of conditions that affect the heart and circulatory system, collectively known as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). A healthy heart functions to efficiently pump blood throughout your body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your organs and tissues. It is important to maintain good heart health for your overall well-being and longevity.

Importance of Heart Health

CVDs are a leading cause of death globally, making heart health crucial for overall health.
Poor heart health can lead to various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmias.

What Causes Heart Disease?

Heart disease is caused by a complex interplay of factors, including:

Non-Modifiable Factors: Age, gender, ethnicity, family history, and inherited genetic mutations.
Modifiable Factors:
- Lifestyle: Diet, physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
- Health: Pre-existing conditions (i.e., diabetes), obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol

Symptoms of Heart

Disease Heart disease symptoms vary depending on the type of heart disease. However, some general signs and symptoms include:

Chest pains
Shortness of breath
Heart palpitations
Fatigue
Nausea or vomiting
Dizziness or light-headedness

Important Note: These symptoms may also be indicative of other health conditions. Speak to our Specialists today for a proper evaluation and diagnosis.

Common Heart Diseases in Singapore

Coronary Artery Disease is the most common heart disease and happens due to blockages in your coronary arteries.
Heart Arrhythmias are irregular heartbeats, which can be too fast (tachycardia), too slow (bradycardia), or irregular.
Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, can lead to serious complications like heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease.
Congenital Heart Disease are heart defects present at birth due to abnormal heart development during pregnancy.
Heart Failure occurs when the heart muscle is weakened or damaged and can't pump blood effectively to meet the body's needs.

Improving Heart Health

Here are some helpful ways to improve your heart health:

Eat a heart-healthy diet with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables while limiting your intake of fats and sodium.
Engage in regular physical activities with at least 150 minutes of moderate activities or 75 minutes of vigorous activities.
Achieving a healthy weight and maintaining a healthy body mass index (BMI).
Quit Smoking and avoid tobacco use
Learn ways to manage your stress as chronic stress may contribute to heart disease.

Deep-Vein Thrombosis

Deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) happens when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in one or more of the deep veins of the body, typically in the legs. It may develop if you have certain medical conditions that affect how blood clots in your body. DVT can be dangerous as the thrombus may break loose and travel along the bloodstream to the lungs where it gets stuck, resulting in a pulmonary embolism.

Signs and Symptoms

Symptoms of DVT may include:

Leg swelling
Leg pain, cramping or soreness that starts in the calf
Changes to the colour of your skin, typically red or purple

If you notice these symptoms, do consult your healthcare provider as pulmonary embolism, a possible complication of DVT, is a potentially life-threatening condition.

Risk Factors

There are several factors that may increase your risk of developing deep-vein thrombosis. Some risk factors include:

Age: Although DVT may happen at any age, your risk of it increases as you age especially after the age of 60.
Lack of movement: When your legs do not move for an extended amount of time, your calf muscles do not contract and muscle contraction is beneficial for blood flow. Sitting or lying for a long time, such as when driving or flying or when recovering from an injury, increases your risk of DVT.
Being overweight: Being overweight puts excess pressure in the veins of the pelvis and legs which over time may result in DVT.
Smoking: Smoking has an effect on how your blood flows and clots, which increases your risk of DVT.
Heart Failure: Heart failure increases your risk of both pulmonary embolism and DVT.

Think you know your heart health?

Our Heart Health Guide answers your questions relating to the heart!

Managing your cholesterol
What to eat for a healthy heart
Measuring your BMI
Exercising for the Heart
Screening for the Heart

Click on the image to download now!

Farrer Health

From the Brink: A Husband and Father’s Survival

It did not occur to Mr. Ramalingam K. that anything out of the ordinary would happen following his health check in December. However, the 42-year-old father of two, who has been married for 13 years, ended up having to grapple with two heart attacks and successive organ complications.
Read the story

Our Specialists

Our panel of specialists cover a wide range of heart conditions to meet your needs.

Find a Specialist