Sunday, October 9, 2011

Heart Disease


What is heart disease?

Your heart is a muscle that gets energy from the oxygen and nutrients carried by the blood. Uninterrupted blood supply allows the heart to function properly. Most people believe that heart disease are only one type of health problem. But in fact, heart disease involve a group of health problems that affect the structure and function of the heart and causes are multiple. Coronary heart disease, for example, develops when a mixture of body fat, calcium and scar tissue (called "plaque") build up inside the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle (coronary arteries) . The plaque buildup narrows the arteries and prevents the heart from getting enough blood.

What can you do
Heart disease is preventable and treatable.
Your best defense is to control risk factors that could cause coronary heart disease, such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, stress, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and overweight.

If you have been diagnosed with a heart problem, there are treatments that can help control your condition. You can further reduce your risk by taking these measures heart healthy:

Smokefree
- Physically active
- Know and control your blood pressure
- Eat a healthy diet lower in fat, especially trans fat and saturated fat
- Achieve and maintain a healthy weight
- Manage your diabetes
- Limit your consumption of alcohol
- Reduce your stress level
- Consult your doctor regularly and follow his advice

Anatomy of the heart

A normal heart is a powerful muscle pump. It can weigh between 200 and 425 g (7-15 oz) and its size is a little larger than your fist. Over a lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times. Every day, a heart beats about 100,000 average times and pumps about 7200 liters (1900 gallons) of blood.

Your heart is located between your lungs in the middle of your chest, behind the sternum, slightly to the left. A double membrane called the pericardium surrounds the heart like an envelope. Blood full of oxygen reaches the lungs and enters the heart. To function, the heart must supply oxygen and nutrients it receives blood that is pumped into his coronary arteries.

Role

The circulatory system consists of the heart and cardiovascular system. The heart pumps blood to the organs, tissues and cells of the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to every cell of the body and remove carbon dioxide and waste products from the cells. The oxygen-rich blood is carried from the heart to the rest of the body through a complex network of arteries, arterioles and capillaries. The oxygen-poor blood returns to the heart through the veins.

How the heart works

The heart is a pump made up of four chambers. The upper chambers are called right atrium and left atrium. The lower chambers are called the right ventricle and left ventricle. A wall of muscle called the septum separates the right and left atria and the right and left ventricles.

The left ventricle, the largest and most powerful cavities of the heart is able to pump blood throughout the body through the aortic valve.

The two cavities of right heart (right atrium and right ventricle) pump blood from the heart to the lungs so that blood cells may collect fees in exchange oxygen waste they collected during their passage in the body. The oxygen-rich blood returns to the left side of the cavity heart (atrium and the left ventricle), which then pump the rest of the body.

When the heart muscle contracts, the two upper chambers (the atria) fill with blood. Then these two cavities contract and expel blood into the ventricles. The ventricles then contract and push blood out of the heart or to the lungs or in the rest of the body.

What happens during a heart beat?

In a normal heart, the electrical impulse that initiates the heartbeat begins in a group of cells called the sinus node (or SA node) in the right atrium. The sinus node is often called the heart rate regulator. It plays a role similar to that of the spark plugs in a car engine produces the electrical signal that make the heart pump. The sinus node generates a number of signals every minute, according to the needs of the organization. The resting heart rate is usually between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

After an electrical impulse is generated, it spreads in the upper part of the heart (the atria), a bit like the ripples created by a stone thrown into a pond. This signal is getting the upper chambers (atria). In contracting, they expel the blood they contain into the lower chambers of the heart, the ventricles.

Meanwhile, the electrical impulse that made the atria contract has now reached the atrioventricular node (AV node or), located in the lower part of the right atrium. The atrioventricular node is the electrical connection between the atria and ventricles. It retains the electrical impulse for a moment, like a relay, so that blood can be pumped from the atria into the ventricles. Then, it sends the signal to the lower chambers of the heart, which in turn contract. Contraction of the ventricles pushes blood out with great force. The electrical impulse has now covered the upper and lower chambers of the heart and made contract. This is a heartbeat. This electrical activity produces electrical impulses measured using a heart test called an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG).

The warning signs of a heart attack

Each year, thousands of Canadians die from a heart attack because they do not receive appropriate medical treatment quickly enough. It is important to understand that the signs vary from one person to another and they are not always sudden or acute. Even if pain or chest discomfort are the most common symptoms of a heart attack in men and women, some people do not feel the pain or the discomfort or only weakly so. Some people only have symptoms, others experience a combination of symptoms. Learn to recognize the warning signs of a heart attack in order to react quickly to save lives.

• Pain or chest discomfort (pressure or discomfort, tightness, sharp pain, burning or heaviness in the chest)
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body (neck, jaw, shoulder, arms or back)
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating
• Nausea
• Dizziness

If you experience any of these signs, you should:

CALL 9-1-1 or the local emergency number immediately, or have someone do it for you. Keep a list of emergency numbers near the phone at all times;
stop all activity and sit or lie in the position in which you are most comfortable;
usually if you take nitroglycerin, take a normal dose;
If you experience chest pain, chew and swallow one adult 325 mg ASA (acetylsalicylic acid commonly called Aspirin ® ) or two 80 mg tablets. Analgesics such as acetaminophen (eg., Tylenol ® ) or ibuprofen (eg., Advil ® ) do not work the same way as ASA (eg., Aspirin ® ) and therefore will not be of any help in the emergency situation described above;
you rest comfortably and await the arrival of emergency medical services (ambulance).

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