Argument paper - Heart disease only affects the old Essay

Argument paper - Heart disease only affects the old - Essay Example Most people, however, do not feel that they need to worry about heart disease until they are older. Despite the fact that most people believe the heart disease is an illness of age and inevitable, through changing lifestyles and addressing bad habits throughout the population heart disease could be almost all but eliminated. Although heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, heart disease is more of a symptomatic result rather than a singular affliction. One of the greatest myths about heart disease is that if it runs in the family there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. The American Heart Association established the idea that this is a myth and that if people take better care of themselves through becoming active, controlling cholesterol, eating better and maintaining healthy weight and sugar control that it is possible to avoid the eventuality of heart disease. The American Heart Association also discusses the problem of people believing that age is relevant to cardiovascular diseases. It is true that more often cardiovascular disease will affect a senior citizen; however the young and middle-aged can also develop heart problems, especially now that obesity has become an epidemic. There are many people who believe that the way in which they live when they are young, has no bearing on what their life will be like when they are older. In many cases, people believe that the young have the ability to have poor lifestyles and survive while they do not need to actually worry about it until they enter middle age (Bell). However, evidence shows that this is not the case. In fact, the way in which a mother takes care of her health during pregnancy appears to have a great deal of effect on the way in which a child has certain health opportunities throughout his or her life (Wintour and Owens 10). Therefore, if the effects that a mother has on a childs