Heart Health

Heart Health services offered in Alpharetta, GA

If you have good heart health, you have a much lower chance of developing heart disease or experiencing heart attack or stroke. At Alpha Medical Clinic, board-certified internal medicine physicians Dhiraj Patel, MD, and Neil Patel, MD, have more than five decades of combined experience in supporting good heart health for their patients. For heart health screenings and treatments that can keep you healthy, call the Alpharetta, Georgia, office or schedule your appointment online today.

What is heart health screening?

Heart health screening involves a series of tests that evaluate your heart health and risk of heart disease.

More than 20 million of American adults 20

and older have coronary artery disease, the most common kind of heart disease. One in five deaths in the United States occurs due to heart disease. Because heart disease is such a prevalent and dangerous condition, heart health screening is an important way to monitor your health.

What is the heart health screening process?

Heart health screening checks:

Blood pressure
Fasting lipoprotein profile (measures HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol)
Weight and body mass index (BMI)
Blood glucose (blood sugar)
Lifestyle habits (smoking, diet, and physical activity)

If you have heart disease risk factors, like smoking, extra weight, and a sedentary lifestyle, or if you have symptoms of heart disease, like chest pain, you may need more detailed heart health assessment. This may include an electrocardiogram (EKG), echocardiogram, exercise stress test, or a coronary calcium scan.

How can I improve my heart health?

Alpha Medical Clinic helps you boost your heart health and overall wellness if you’re at risk for heart disease. The main strategies include:

Managing cholesterol

Managing cholesterol helps prevent atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in your arteries. Atherosclerosis in the arteries supplying your heart can cause heart disease, but limiting the cholesterol-rich foods you eat can help prevent it.

You could also need medication if diet and lifestyle aren’t enough.

Managing high blood pressure

Your blood pressure and heart health are closely intertwined. If you have high blood pressure, reducing your systolic blood pressure (the top number in your reading) by just 5 mmHg can reduce your risk of serious cardiovascular disease by 10%. The benefits build further as your blood pressure lowers and stabilizes.

The team can help you adopt a heart-healthy diet and start regular cardiovascular exercise to help lower your blood pressure. You could need medication as well.

Weight loss management

If you struggle with weight management, medical weight loss can help you lose extra pounds to improve your blood pressure and cholesterol and reduce your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Ultimately this means you’re less likely to experience heart disease.

Medically supervised weight loss provides tools like oral or injected medications, diet, and exercise to help you lose extra weight and improve heart health.

For heart health care, call Alpha Medical Clinic or schedule an appointment online today.