LOOKING AFTER YOUR HEART

Having a healthy, well functioning heart is very important. It is perhaps the most important organ in the body. It is roughly the size of a man’s closed fist.

The heart muscle itself is called the myocardium — from the Greek word for heart — Cardia and myo meaning muscle. Like all muscles, the heart conducts nervous impulses from one cell to the next.

It pumps fresh blood around the body. The myocardium works on an electro-chemical basis. It gets energy from fats and glucose and from the electrical release of calcium ions.

The normal heartbeat is about 72 beats per minute.

Heart disorders include misfunction of the 4 valves; disordered electrical-impulse system and anatomical defects of the heart.

Cholesterol, sugar and fat contribute to heart troubles.

The Journal of the American medical Association [1998] says "Approximately 250,000 sudden cardiac deaths occur in the United States every year. Of these sudden deaths, 55% have no previous history of heart disease, and most die prior to reaching the hospital. Of persons with cardiac arrest who do reach the hospital, only 30% will be discharged alive. Any substantial reduction in arrhythmic and therefore sudden death will require primary prevention efforts in the general population and not just in those with a history of coronary heart disease".

Other contributing factors to heart problems can be hypertension, stress, and thyroid hyperactivity. Nerve and digestive problems can be major causes. Constipation can be a contributor to heart disorders as removal of fibre from the diet raises serum cholesterol levels.

The common practice of starving oneself all day and eating big at night causing pressure from the abdomen up towards the heart when lying in bed, has in many minds been a cause of heart attacks in the early morning hours.

Smoking and high blood pressure will give a likely result of heart disease.

Researchers have found that a weekly consumption of fish and/or shellfish raised a person's chance of avoiding sudden fatal cardiac arrest.

Experts have thought for sometime that the Omega-3 fatty acids found in seafood might help protect against the arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) that is often associated with fatal cardiac arrest.

Garlic, reputed to lower cholesterol and ward off colds, may also keep the main artery to the heart, the aorta, soft and supple, researchers say.

Folic acid and vitamin B6 can prevent heart disease in women according to The Journal of the American Medical Association (February 4, 1998). The study notes that the current recommended intake of the two may be not be high enough to provide protective effects.

Folic acid is found in vitamins, broccoli, spinach, orange juice, lettuce and Vitamin B6 is found in multiple vitamins, beef, tuna, potatoes, bananas, chicken.