Being a happy kid equals a lower heart attack risk as an adult? A study out of Finland looked at children, their environment, and the risk of suffering a heart attack later in life.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) every 43 seconds in the United States someone has a heart attack, or myocardial infarction. One important factor in surviving a heart attack is rapid treatment. This is because the longer the time that blood flow is restricted, the greater the damage to the heart.
Each year in America 735,000 people have a heart attack. Of that number 525,000 are first time heart attacks and 210,000 are people who have previously had one heart attack.
The Finnish study, according to news reports, looked at 311 children at age 12, and at age 18. The study then tracked the children when they were adults at age 28. Researchers were looking at evidence of calcium deposits in the adults’ arteries and any evidence of the narrowing of blood vessels. Each of these things increase the chance of suffering from a heart attack.
When researchers looked back at the data they found that the children who had a high psycho-social well-being were 15% less likely to have any evidence of calcium deposit buildup as adults.
The focus of the psycho-social analysis focused on family well-being factors such as income level, education level, the type of job the parents worked, the parents’ mental health and smoking and substance abuse history, etc…
According to the researchers in the study, the study does not prove that the stress that a child has growing up will cause clogged arteries or narrowing blood vessels as an adult, increasing the chance of a heart attack. The study merely suggests that the child’s well-being and clogged arteries and narrowing of blood vessels is related.
To read more about the study, click HERE for the story in support of this post.
