:blob-no-thoughts:

  • Dirtbag [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    most western lifestyles already damage the cardiovascular system

    What other ways do we damage it?

    • happybadger [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Diet, sedentary lifestyle, substance abuse and especially inflammatory drugs like alcohol/tobacco, and air pollution are the big ones I can think of.

      • Dirtbag [they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        Wait how bad is alcohol in mild to moderate amounts? I thought it only fucked you up if you binge drank regularly?

        • happybadger [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          It will probably only give you visible issues from abuse, but it's still a toxic drug in terms of how it impacts your body immediately. It's when you add lifestyle factors together that you have an idea of your risk group. It's stressing your heart, liver, pancreas, GI tract, immune system, and blood vessels.

          • p_sharikov [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            It can also contribute to nerve damage and cognitive problems

            • happybadger [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              The neurodegeneration is big nope. I had a few nursing home patients in their 40s and 50s who may as well have been 105 cognitively. Profound dementia while they were bedbound and alternating between shitting themselves/vividly hallucinating until either their liver gave out or their GI tract ruptured.

                • happybadger [he/him]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/korsakoff-syndrome

                  If you lack vitamin B1, which alcohol flushes out of your body, your brain becomes so starved that it develops a specific kind of dementia that's otherwise seen with chronic malnutrition, eating disorders, and things like that. Meanwhile the "beer gut" eventually becomes fluid pooling in your abdomen to the point that it has to be regularly drained or you look 9 months pregnant with as much physical debilitation. Death by alcoholism is one of the more brutal ones.

          • MarxGuns [comrade/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            My dad claimed that alcohol causes cancer via interfering with ones immune system and gut bacteria. This was just a hunch based on watching a friend get colorectal cancer. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be the truth.

            • happybadger [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Probably some mix of that and ulceration. Any time cells replicate there's the chance for them to turn cancerous and when you've got wounds like that- a burn for example- there's so much destruction and recombination going on that it becomes a big cancer risk.

      • bigboopballs [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Diet

        what part of western diet damages the cardiovascular system? is it the trans fats and salt -> high blood pressure?

        • happybadger [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Salt, fats, carbs, and a lack of vegetables. Diabetes also increases your chances of cardiovascular accidents.