Heart Month
Written by: Marcos Otero, Retired Physician Associate
February is the month of St Valentine. The saint of love. Since love is our hearts, we will discuss the heart this month. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. Every year, 1 in 4 deaths are caused by heart disease.
The good news? Preventing heart disease can often be as simple as making healthy choices and managing your health conditions. This article will cover basic heart function, symptoms, and prevention. The web article will have more information about causes and specific symptoms for these causes
How the heart works.
Your heart is a pump. It’s a muscular organ about the size of your fist, located a little left of center in your chest. Your heart is divided into the right and the left side. The right-side atrium receives blood from the body and send it to the lungs. In the lungs the blood releases carbon dioxide from the body and enriches with oxygen. The left side of the heart which is the stronger then receives blood from the lungs and pumps oxygen rich blood to the body.
Heart valves
There are four one-way valves in between the chambers in the heart. These work to insure heart flows the correct way. To function properly, the valve must be formed properly, must open all the way and must close tightly so there’s no leakage. The four valves are: Tricuspid, Mitral, Pulmonary, and Aortic.
Heartbeats
A beating heart contracts and relaxes in a continuous cycle. During contraction (systole), your ventricles contract, forcing blood into the vessels to your lungs and body. During relaxation (diastole), the ventricles are filled with blood coming from the upper chambers (left and right atria).
Electrical system
Your heart’s electrical wiring keeps it beating, which controls the continuous exchange of oxygen-rich blood with oxygen-poor blood. This exchange keeps you alive. Electrical impulses begin high in the right atrium and travel through specialized pathways to the ventricles, delivering the signal for the heart to pump. The conduction system keeps your heart beating in a coordinated and normal rhythm, which keeps blood circulating.
Anything that affects any one of the above normal functions can cause heart disease. These can cause symptoms.
Symptoms can include:
- Chest pain, chest tightness, chest pressure
and chest discomfort (angina). - Shortness of breath.
- Pain, numbness, weakness or coldness in your
legs or arms if the blood vessels in those parts of your body are narrowed. - Pain in the neck, jaw, throat, upper abdomen
or back.
You might not be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease until you have a heart attack, angina, stroke or heart failure. Regular clinic visits can sometimes find cardiovascular problems early. These can include abnormal heartbeats, murmurs, etc..
Prevention
Certain types of heart disease, such as heart defects, can’t be prevented. However, you can help prevent many other types of heart disease by making the same lifestyle changes that can improve your heart disease, such as:
- Quit smoking
- Control other health conditions, such as high
blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes - Exercise at least 30 minutes a day on most
days of the week - Eat a diet that’s low in salt and saturated
fat - Maintain a healthy weight
- Reduce and manage stress
- Practice good hygiene
May your heart be blessed, healthy and full of love this St Valentine’s day.
Be sure to visit; https://www.conexionflorida.com/heart-disease-symptoms-and-symptoms/ If you would like to learn more.
