Protect Your Heart Before It Gets Blocked and Clogged
Our heart is just like a car’s engine. It works every day non-stop to enable us to carry out our daily routine. If you ignore its existence, it will become a big problem as it will stop abruptly without your prior knowledge. Once it is stopped, our life ends. Therefore, we should learn how to protect our heart, so that it can be maintained in a good shape in the long run.
Let us see how our heart works for us. It works for us voluntary without requesting for any payments or commissions. Where could you get such a loyal employee like your “Heart” who works everyday, every minute, and every time for you without grumbling or complaining? Our heart is a very powerful pump, which functions every time without knowing what is termed as “tiredness.”
Our heart resembles an engine in the car. It helps to pump blood to every part of our body. Though it is an important gadget in human’s body, its weight is only 0.5% (approximately 300g) of the entire body weight. However, such a small gadget has to work heavily in order to sustain our life. How great our heart it is! Please salute to your heart for its brilliant service.
Each beat of our heart can pump approximately 70ml of blood, and each minute, about 5,000ml or 5l of blood is being pumped out. That means every day, our heart helps us to pump out approximately 700 million of blood, which is equivalent to 2 million times of our body weight.
Do you know that our heart have an average pulse of 70 times per minute (calculating from a healthy person. Different individual may have different pulses)? If our life span is up to 70 years old, our heart will have about 16 billion times of pulses. Let me ask you, what other thing in this world can you find to provide you free services as many as 16 billion times?
Our heart in general, is a muscular organ which responsibles for pumping blood via the blood vessels by repeated, and rhythmic contractions. It transports the blood to our whole body, and at the same time it transports the blood from our whole body to our lungs, and subsequently it eliminates the carbon dioxide via our lungs. Similarly, it transports the oxygen via our lungs to other parts of our body, so that each cell, tissue, muscle and even the system of our body are nourished with fresh oxygenated air. However, it is sad to learn that many of us do not understand its importance, and thus nowadays, we have so many problems related to the heart. As a result, many of us are suffering from heart diseases and other heart related diseases, in which heart disease has turned out to be a great threat and massive disturbance to human life. Therefore, it is not surprising to find people 30 years old or below (previously, heart disease was found to be more dominant for people who age 50 to 60 years old) having heart problem as this is due to their lack of knowledge in health.
What are the Causes of Heart Disease?
Heart disease has a close relationship with living habits. This may include smoking, eating habit, working pressure, and so forth. The nicotine found in the cigarette can indulge the heart to beat faster, the rise of blood pressure, while lowering the oxygen content in the blood vessel causing the hardening of blood vessel or medically termed as arteriosclerosis (Read more on arteriosclerosis here).
As for eating pattern, oily-, high cholesterol-, and high fat- rich foods can give rise to the cholesterol content in our body. If the presence of cholesterol is high in our blood vessel, it will lead to the narrowing of the artery. In the severe cases, the narrowing of the artery can get clogged the blood vessel causing coronary heart disease.
In general, people who always work under pressure are at high risk of getting heart disease. This is because when the pressure is larger, our body will release large amount of adrenal hormone. This hormone is not good for our health as it causes arteriosclerosis and the blood becomes too concentrated, in which, this condition can result in the occurrence of heart disease or any heart related consequences.
People with high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes, hypelipidemia and hypercholesterolemia (see an example disease of hypercholesterolemia here) are high risk groups of heart diseases. This is due to that diabetes patient has a very high glucose level which causes blood vessel easily wears off or being clogged; while the elevation of lipid (Read more on lipid here) in the blood vessel will lead to the narrowing of the blood vessel or the blood vessel may get clogged or blocked easily, thus causing coronary or cardiovascular heart disease. The proper ways to prevent heart disease is to quit smoking and alcholic drinks, have a routine and healthy lifestyle, exercise regulary, healthy eating habit, and have your body checked annually. If you have accidentary encountered with the symptoms of heart disease, early medical treatment and diagnosis is always the most appropriate way to rescue yourself from being threatened by heart disease.
What are the Symptoms of Heart Disease?
If you have the following symptoms, you might have suffered from heart disease which requires immediate attention and treatment. If you are unsure about the symptoms you are experiencing, please do not hesitate to see the doctor for further treatment and advice. Generaly, heart disease suferers may have experienced a variety of symptoms other than the common symptom of chest pain including:
- Shorthness of breath
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Neck and shoulder pain
- Abdominal pain
- fatigue
- Squeezing sensation, fullness, and/ or pain of the chest
- General epigastric (upper middle abdomen) discomfort
- No symptoms (1/4 of the heart disease cases have been reported to be no symptoms or without chest pain. These silent heart diseases are particularly obvious among the diabetes mellitus patients)
- Sweating
- Headache
- Toothache
- Jaw pain
- Upper back pain
- Indigestion and/ or heartburn
- Vague feeling of illness (general malaise)
- Arm pain (more commonly the left arm, but may be either arm)
Note:
At times, though the occurrence of the heart disease may be vague, mild, light or no symptoms, it is important not to ignore this consequence as it may sometimes become serious as well as life-threatening. Very often, most patients regard the symptoms of stress, fatigue or indigestion as a mild symptom, and thus delaying to seek for prompt medical treatment and diagnosis. Bear in mind that early treatment and diagnosis will save your life, while delaying in obtaining medical assistance can both be life-threatening and fatal. This is because the delay can result in permanently reduced as well as weaken function of the heart which will later cause the extensive damage to the heart tissue and muscle. The sudden onset of arrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation always invites the death to knock at your door.
How to Prevent from Getting Heart Disease
- Increase more intake of vegie in your diet
- Promote good personal hygiene
- Reduce the intake of animal fat rich-, high cholesterol-, trans fat- foodstuffs
- Quit smoking
- Reduce the intake of alchoholic drinks
- Control your blood pressure and blood sugar
- Control your body weight
- Avoid yourself from being stress, panic and anxious
- Be cheerful, optimistic and happy always (Read How to make yourself happy)
- Maintain a routine, healthy and normal lifestyle
- Take an adequate amount of nap, sleep and rest
- Have your body checked regularly (Read Heart Health Screening)
- Keep up your exercise
Read Proven Methods to cut Heart Attack Risk for more details and thorough explanation.
What is the Normal and Healthy Heart Rate?
Heart rate refers to the number of heart beats per unit of time and it is often expressed as beats per minute. While resting or in a static state, the average male adult heart beats is approximately 70bpm, and for female adult is 75bpm. However, this rate varies considerably and significantly according to different breathing speed, body temperature, exercise, before and after meal, and individual age. Basically, the youngest the person is the fastest its heart rate is, and the oldest the person is the slowest its heart rate is. That means the baby will have the faster heart rate than the adult.
Below is a table that I compiled from various sources:
Age Normal and healthy heart rate (beats per minute)
Fetus 140 - 150
Newborn 130 - 140
1 month -1 year 110 -130
7 -14 years 76 - 90
14 - 21 years 76 - 85
21 - 60 years 70 - 75
Above 60 years 67 - 80
What is the Simple Method to Measure Your Pulse?
Pulse is the term used to measure the heart rate. When someone is in the case of arrhythmias, in which its heart rate is significantly higher than the pulse rate, this method of measuring the pulse will be inaccurate. This is also true for those having the cases of low cardiac output. Thus, a process known as auscultation (listening to heart beats using a stethoscope) is the most appropriate and accurate way to measure the heart rate.
It is easy to measure your pulse. Do this by putting your fingers at the neck and wrist as shown in the picture above. The thumb should never be used for this purpose as its strong pulse may interfere with your exact pulse. That means you may have added your thumb’s pulse accidentally which gives you an inaccurate pulse reading.
Do you have Heart Disease? Do this self-diagnose Test.
Eating habits, stress, genetic are some of the main factors that lead to the possibility of getting heart disease. If you have the conditions stated below, please tick behind each condition that applies to you otherwise just ignores it. Each tick earns you one mark.
- Your age is between 30 to 45 years old
- You smoke
- Your family members have the record of smoking
- You are a meat eater
- Your breakfast includes two eggs or more
- You feel sleepy easily
- You are suffering from insomnia
- You are always in a bad mood and/ or a hot temper
- You have a close family member (a parent, brother or sister) with heart disease
- You always work longer indoor and/or in the office
- You like to watch television while having tidbit or snack to bite on
- You eat less or none of fruits
- You always sweat (the sweating is not caused by exercise or any physical movements)
- You eat chicken or any meats together with their skins
- Your body feels extremely weak or tired due to a busy workload
- You prefer to eat out rather than to cook at home
- You seldom or do not do exercise
- You get annoyed or irritated easily
- You always feel your stomach with something even though you do not feel hungry at all
- You have a bad habit of drinking alcohol
- You like to eat foodstuff that has a very strong taste or odor. That means your diet has many artificial coloring or chemical compounds add-in.
- You eat less or none of the bean category foods
- You eat less fiber rich foods. These foods include vegetables, wheat, grains, and etc.
Next, add up all the marks that you obtained from this self-test and see the result below:
0 - 6 marks
Congratulation! You are a healthy person. That means you have a very good health condition and healthy lifestyle. Your possibility of getting heart disease is extremely low, so you should maintain and make this healthy lifestyle as your habit.
7 - 12 marks
Oops! You are alerted for a warning status. At this stage, you should pay more attention to your health. That means you should adjust your daily diet, eating habit accordingly to maintain your body’s optimum health. Besides that, you are advised to keep up an aerobic exercise regularly, quit smoking, reduce the intake of fat- and cholesterol rich foodstuffs, and reduce the intake of alcoholic and caffeinated drinks. Additionally, you should find out appropriate ways to reduce your stress besides having your body regularly checked so that your heart health can be monitored from time to time.
13 - 23 marks
You are categorized under a high risk group of heart disease. Whether you are experiencing symptoms arising from heart disease, or you might have no symptoms to be alerted, your life can be life-threatening or fatal as the death can visit you anytime and anyplace. Therefore, you should not hesitate to seek for a medical treatment or diagnosis. As I have mentioned earlier, any delay at this stage can result in permanently reduced as well as weaken function of the heart which will later cause the extensive damage to the heart tissue and muscle. The sudden onset of arrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation always invites the death to knock at your door.
What is the Daily Care to strengthen your Heart Health?
Here, I will introduce you a simple and easy to follow method to enhance your heart health.
Wear socks appropriately and Avoid Exposing your Back
The ancient Chinese practitioners tell us that all diseases begin at our foot. If every one of us wears socks including when we sleep at night, then our feet can maintain its warmth while avoiding the intrusion of cold air which tends to penetrate through our foot palm. As most Chinese practitioners believe that human’s back is the meeting point of “yang” breath, or in order words, the terminal of acupuncture points, it is easier to expose to any intrusion of “qi” or a parcel of air into other parts of our organs, which might further indulge unprecedented health consequences. Therefore, I advise you to wear socks to protect your feet and at the same time help protecting your heart. Similarly, keep yourself away from exposing your back is always a great advantage to maintain your heart health.
Soak your Legs to keep them Warm
As I have mentioned earlier, it is essential to maintain the warmth of our legs. For those who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetic neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, and particularly for those who have edema at their lower limbs, soaking legs in warm water daily can be considered as a good measure as it aids in preventing the existing diseases from being developed into a chronic state. This is because of the increase flow of blood within the micro-vascular vessels at the lower limbs.
Do not Push your Feces too Hard
For those who suffer from cardiovascular disease accompanied with constipation, you are advised not to push your feces too hard. Many clinical reports show that patients with heart disease, stroke, cardiovascular and other chronic diseases have a significant rise of blood pressure, as during defecation they have pushed their feces too hard which results in the increase pressure in their abdominal part and eventually brings to the rise of the blood pressure. The rise of blood pressure is dangerous that it will increase the workload of our heart and thereby indulging the occurrence of stroke and heart attack. In the severe case, this condition can be life-threatening and fatal.
I recommend the heart disease patients to use the sitting toilet instead of the standing toilet in which they have to squat. That is because if the patient squats the limbs while passing feces, the blood pressure will accumulate at the lower limbs causing inadequate volume of blood in the heart. Besides that, standing straightaway after the bowel action may have caused the sudden flow of blood into the heart which incleases the workload of the heart and thus leading to other heart related consequences.
Coughing as a Method of Resuscitation
Coughing is a temporal method for a heart resuscitation. It helps many chronic disease patients escaping from being death.
When we cough loudly, about 75 Joule energy power can be produced. This energy is then converted as a bioelectrical energy which gives the nearly-death heart a chance to resuscitate.
For the heart disease patients, I sincerely advise you not to be panicked when you are facing with the conditions that get you down or collapse. At this time, try to cough few times as loud as you could. The intense coughing can stimulate the overall blood circulations in our body, so that the blood can be despatched back to our brain. Meanwhile, it helps compressing the circulation within our lungs, so that the blood can flow back to our heart. This helps to accelerate the contraction of our heart while adjusting the rhythm of the heart rate. When this condition is achieved, Systolic blood pressure (SBP) can give rise from 50 to 80mmHg. This in turns delays the time of treatment and thus the patient is benefited to get the real-time treatment.
Now, you may ask me, “Chan, how to do this?” Don’t worry, it’s simple to do. Let me explain in a way that you will understand better.
When you feel the onset of any symptoms related to heart disease, try to cough loudly every one to two seconds. Remember, you should cough consecutively five times as loud as you could within one to two seconds. Take note that this is the method to temporally delay the time of treatment, you still need to see your doctor for further diagnosis and treatment.
Final Remark
If you have the heart conditions stated in this article, your specific questions about your heart symptoms can only be answered properly and appropriately by your physician who is familiar with your heart test, your health and medication history. I can only provide you a generalized answer in regards to your questions. Therefore, I recommend you to make an appointment with your doctor to have your heart checked so that further evaluation of your symptoms can be carried out promptly. Take care and be in good health! Good luck!
