Kazurou Ishihara writes:

        The most important issues for T to understand right now are what atherosclerosis is and especially that even young men may have coronary disease resulting from atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a process that cholesterol deposits begin to accumulate along the inner walls of the coronary arteries, and these coronary arteries become narrow, which can stop the blood supply to the heart muscle and finally leads patients to die.So atheroscrelosis is a starting point of death, and it is important that T should realize the fact that this process has already started.

        I think that there are several points of concern about T's heart condition.

        1) Sex: That is to say, men are generally more likely to have high rates of heart disease.

        2) Personality: His personality is type A, and a type A person is apt to be ambitious and to work hard, which gives him much stress and aggravates his heart condition.

        3) Hypertension: Generally speaking, hypertension is a factor of accelerating atherosclerosis.

        4) Family history: His mother died after by-pass surgery complicated by hardening of the arteries. So, he also has genetic risk factors of hardening of the arteries.

        I recommend he should go to a hospital for the short term, as if he were taking a short trip, i.e., a week without thinking about his business. T should also try to follow the following points. These points are all about life-style and are categorized into four groups.

        A. Relaxing: Relaxing is very important for the heart, because it activates the parasympathetic nerve system and this nerve system removes any overload of the circulating system including the heart.

        B. Diet: Foods are important because atherosclerosis is a cholesterol-depositing process on the inner wall of coronary arteries.

        C. Exercise: This is important because it is proven that taking exercise improves the condition of the circulating system including the heart.

        D. Not smoking: It is proven that smoking is a strong risk factor of various heart diseases.

        It is most important for T that he should change his life-style to be adequate to overcome atherosclerosis. I will tell T that he should take the following steps.

        1st step: Relaxing. I would say to T, for example, "Try to have a hobby you can enjoy fully such as drawing pictures, making plastic models and so on. Also, try to take supper with your family every night."

        2nd step: Diet. "Be careful of the content of foods. It is important to take low cholesterol foods such as vegetables, fruits, beans and fishes."

        3rd step: Exercise. "Try to do light exercise everyday as much as you can."

        4th step: Not smoking. "This is a final and most important step. Try to decrease the number of cigarettes you smoke a day, and slowly try to stop smoking altogether. This is a difficult process for you but really necessary, because when you stop smoking, you reduce many of these risk factors that are currently endangering your health."

         

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