Coronary artery disease is commonly treated by attempting to relieve the blockage with bypass surgery, angioplasty and stents.
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The dysautonomias - a series of syndromes related to imbalance of the autonomic nervous system - are among the most misunderstood disorders in medicine. Read about some of the more prominent heart-related dysautonomias here.
Several recent studies have made an association between chronic sleep deprivation (in general, getting fewer than five hours of sleep per night) and heart disease - or at least the risk factors for heart disease. And one study even suggests that getting too much sleep (greater than nine hours of sleep per night) is associated with heart disease.
So is there an "optimal" sleep duration window?
While the name "broken heart syndrome" may not be adequately descriptive of the condition itself, this name does have the advantage of calling everyone's attention to the fact that heart disease in women is often quite different from heart disease in men. Read about broken heart syndrome here.
Most physicians are now convinced that emotional stress, under certain circumstances, can play a role in the development of chronic heart disease, and even in the precipitation of acute cardiac crises. If you are experiencing significant of emotional stress and are reacting to it negatively, you should be concerned about preventing stress-related heart problems.
Here are some proven steps you can take to reduce the effect of stress on your heart.
Infectious endocarditis - which sometimes is also called subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE), or just "endocarditis" - is an infection of the endocardial surface (the interior lining) of the heart. Infectious endocarditis is always a serious medical problem, since the infection can destroy your heart valves or heart muscle.
