A Healthy Heart; A Healthy You!
How does the heart function?The heart is one of the most important organs of the body. It is a hard working muscular organ approximately the size of a man’s fist and is located in the thoracic cavity, behind the sternum and above the diaphragm. How can something so small be so essential to life? It’s quite simple. The heart pumps blood through the cardiovascular system via arteries and veins. Those arteries and veins along with capillaries transports blood from the heart to the cells and from the cells back to the heart while carrying away waste products as well.
The significance of a healthy well-functioning heart is to ensure that life-sustaining blood continuously flows throughout the body. Life stops when your heart stops beating. If the flow of blood to the brain comes to a halt for 5 seconds or more consciousness is lost. After 20 seconds, the muscles will be begin twitching and after 5 minutes with a lack of blood flow the brains cells will become irreversibly damaged.
What is Heart Disease?
Heart Disease is the number one cause of death in men and women since 1918. Approximately 2500 Americans die every day due to Coronary Artery Disease, which is simply narrowing of the blood vessels surrounding the heart which causes a decrease in blood flow to the heart.
Other types of heart disease include heart failure, an irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia and heart valve problems.
What are ways to prevent Heart Disease?
There are several risk factors for heart disease such as family history, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, current smoking, physical inactivity and obesity. Steps to lowering your risk or preventing heart disease include:
A. Avoid Smoking: A smoker’s risk is twice that of a non-smoker. Environmental tobacco smoke (second hand smoke) may also increase your risk of heart disease. Cigarette smoking damages the entire circulatory system, and increases the risk for coronary heart disease, hardened arteries, aneurysms and blood clots. It’s like dominos, one risk creates another.
B. Manage blood pressure: When your blood pressure stays within normal limits, you reduce the amount of stress placed on the arteries, heart, and kidneys.
C. Control cholesterol: Controlling your cholesterol gives your arteries the ability to allow blood to flow freely and reduce the risk of clots or blockages.
D. Eat Healthy: Maintaining a well-balanced heart healthy diet (foods that are low in sugars, saturated and Trans fat, cholesterol and sodium), you improve your chances of staying healthy for life.
E. Get Active: Maintaining an active lifestyle is one of the best rewards we can give ourselves. Moderate physical activity helps keep your heart in a good working condition. Daily physical activity can increase your quality of life.
F. Manage weight: Obesity is now recognized as a major risk for healthy disease. Getting rid of the extra weight can reduce the burden on your heart, lungs, and blood vessels.
In conclusion, we must remember our heart is a hard-working muscular organ. It deserves to be loved for all the work that it does. It started pumping blood before you were born and will continue pumping throughout your entire life span. Take care your heart. You only get one.
Sources:
Boothe, Kathryn A., and Thomas O’Brien. Electrocardiography for Healthcare Professionals. 3rd edition
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