Occasional chest pains can be frightening -- I know because I get them from time to time. I'm only in my mid-20s and I'm healthy so I doubt it's anything to worry about, but sometimes I can't help worrying about the state of my heart.

Chest pains are one of the most important things to share with your doctor, because it can provide him or her with valuable insights into what might be afflicting you. Chest pains can be a sign of a heart attack, angina, inflammation of the heart tissue or a multitude of other things. Chest pains can also be caused by acid reflux, which I suspect in the culprit in my case.

To find out more about chest pains, check out this article.

The symptoms of angina can be very similar to those of a heart attack -- pain and pressure in the chest and upper body, for one. Though angina is treatable, it is a major red flag that tells you that it's time to pay close attention to your heart health. Angina is your heart's way of warning you that it's working too hard, and left untreated, it can put you at risk for heart attack and cardiac arrest. It can be caused by coronary artery disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure, or narrowing of the arteries, as well as other conditions.

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with angina, here's an excellent article that outlines symptoms, causes, and different types of angina, as well as treatment options and lifestyle changes to manage the disease. Though any new heart symptoms or pain should be evaluated by a doctor immediately, if you have angina, this article may help you better understand your condition.

It's another case of medications helping in the most unlikely of ways -- it seems some types of antidepressants can help patients avoid certain complications after suffering a severe heart attack or angina. A particular class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (or SSRIs) keep platelets from sticking together, which seems to be having a unexpected benefit for heart patients who just happen to be taking those types of drugs anyway.

At this point larger studies are being called for, but at the same time there is enough evidence now for doctors to take SSRIs into account when treating patients.

Researchers have discovered that sexual impotence can be an early indicator of heart disease, and if a man is suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED), he should be screened for cardiovascular disease. ED can precede chest discomfort and the pain of angina by up to three years.

Of the 300 men who participated in the study and suffered from impotence and clogged arteries, 93 percent reported symptoms of ED between one to three years before experiencing angina. According to the researchers, ED could be a sentinel of the heart, alerting men and their doctors to check for heart problems before obvious symptoms of heart disease appear.

"All men with ED and no cardiac symptoms need a detailed cardiac assessment, blood pressure measurement, fasting lipid profile and glucose, as well as lifestyle advice regarding weight and exercise," said Dr Graham Jackson, a cardiologist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London.

Comedian Red Buttons dies at the age of 87 after struggling with a vascular disease. The comedian known for his carrot top burlesque comedy that won him an Oscar in 1957 died Thursday in his Los Angeles home. A performer since his teens, Buttons was the youngest comic on the circuit in burlesque theaters. He then graduated to small roles on Broadway before being drafted into the army in 1943.

The largest jump to fame was his television show "The Red Buttons Show" which was first broadcast on CBS Oct. 14, 1952. The show became a solid hit. Buttons drew on all his experience for monologues, songs, dances and sketches featuring such characters as a punch-drunk fighter, a scrappy street kid, a Sad Sack GI and a blundering German. The hit of the show was a silly song in which he pranced about the stage singing, "Ho! Ho!... He! He!... Ha! Ha!... Strange things are happening!" It became a national craze.

Vascular disease includes any condition that affects your circulatory system. A blockage in the coronary arteries can cause symptoms of chest pain known as angina or a heart attack. It also affects the legs and the renal arteries which are the arteries supplying the kidneys.

Getting older and living alone can add up to a two-fold increase in heart disease and related death, says a new study published today. A Danish study of 138,000 people found that men and women over age 50 and 60 who lived alone were not only more prone to heart disease, but were also more likely to die within a month after being diagnosed or suffering a heart attack. Conversely, aging men and women who lived with a partner, and in some cases still working, had the lowest occurrence of heart disease.

Though the link between loneliness and heart disease was unclear, researchers theorize that the increased risk was connected to lifestyle habits associated with living alone. Primarily, lack of family support, an ambivalent attitude toward doctor visits, smoking, high cholesterol and obesity were the main attributes of single living. Those who live alone are encouraged to seek out more frequent heart disease screening, as they are in a much higher risk group.