HEART HEALTH

            Your heart is an amazing piece of machinery. A muscle that’s a little bit larger than your fist, the heart can weigh anywhere between 7 and 15 ounces. This hard-working muscle pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood as it contracts and expands about 100,000 times per day. This is what makes heart health so important.

The heart is a smooth muscle and an involuntary muscle. Unlike blinking or moving your arms, you have no conscious control over whether your heart beats or not. The beat is controlled by electrical impulses that tell the heart when to pump. 

What Is Heart or Cardiovascular Disease?

Since the heart is such an important organ, if it begins to fail and you have heart disease, you may have significant problems with your overall health — not just your heart health. However, heart disease isn’t one particular problem, but a group of diseases.

Some common types of heart disease include:

• Angina (chest pain caused by too little blood and oxygen)
• Arrhythmia (abnormal heart beat)
• Congestive heart failure (the heart doesn’t pump as effectively as it should and fluid can back up into the lungs)
• Heart attack (blood supply is cut off from a part of the heart)

Sadly, heart health problems aren't uncommon. According to statistics, 2,400 Americans die of heart disease each day. That comes out to an average of one death every 37 seconds. 

Treatment for Heart Disease

Treatment for health disease depends entirely on the type of heart disease you have. It can range from lifestyle changes (stopping smoking, losing weight, exercising more) to taking medications or having surgery.

There are many medications available to treat certain types of heart diseases. Not all treatments help everyone, however, and you may need to try a few different medications before you and your doctor find one that’s best for you.

Surgery is usually the last resort when it comes to treating heart disease. Surgery itself always has risks, and heart surgery can be especially risky. Heart surgery procedures can range from the minimally invasive, such as angioplasty (using a catheter to reach the heart in order to insert balloons which can widen arteries), to open heart surgery and heart transplants. 

Heart Disease Prevention

Treatment of health disease can be difficult. That’s why it's better to try to prevent these health conditions, particularly in people with known cardiovascular disease risks. But how do you prevent heart disease? How do you maintain good heart health?

It may seem simple, but for the most part, lifestyle plays a huge role in keeping the heart healthy and reducing cardiovascular disease risks. Many of these suggestions are probably familiar to most people. They include:

• Managing your stress levels
• Eating fruits, vegetables, and foods low in fat and cholesterol — maintaining a mostly plant-based diet
• Becoming active (at least 30 minutes per day) and either maintaining your current weight or losing weight if you are overweight.
• Monitoring your blood pressure. If it’s high, get it under control following your doctor’s guidelines.
• Screening your cholesterol and blood sugar levels. If your numbers have increased, you may be able to reverse the trend.
• Following treatment guidelines if you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes

Eat right, exercise, don’t smoke, and talk to your doctor about any health concerns you have or any symptoms you notice. The earlier heart problems are detected, the better the chance you can begin treatment before any long-term damage has occurred.