Heart health: how to care for it and common diseases
The heart is a vital and indispensable organ for life. Despite its tremendous importance, we often tend to forget about him, and we do not remember until some disorder or pathology affects him (in most cases, when his health is already weakened and it is too late). Luckily, we can enjoy good health both heart and cardiovascular following a series of tips as simple as easy to follow each day.
Basically It is the main organ of our circulatory system. Unlike other organs it is rather a muscular organ. We found it located in the thoracic cavity, specifically on the left side of the rib cage. Although its size and weight may vary slightly from one person to another, it usually tends to measure around 15 centimeters, and weighs around 325 grams.
It exerts a vital function for our organism: It is responsible for driving the blood through the different blood vessels so that it reaches all the organs of our body. That is, is responsible for pumping blood to all corners of our body. To achieve this, the heart contracts (systole) and relaxes (diastole) rhythmically in order to drive blood through the blood vessels.
- Effects of hypertension in your heart. The hypertensive heart
Useful tips to take care of your heart every day
Control your emotions and stay away from anxiety and stress
Those who live in a relaxed, calm and relaxed way usually enjoy good cardiovascular health. On the contrary, those who live stressed and burdened every day tend to have a higher risk of suffering from heart disease. As it has been scientifically demonstrated, it is known that anxiety can trigger the risk of having a heart attack in the hours after having suffered it with some intensity.
The same happens with certain emotions that actually tend to damage our emotional and physical health, and can destabilize our heart in a very negative way. It is the case of emotions as negative as anger, sadness or anger.
The key is, as we see, in trying to enjoy life in a relaxed and as relaxed as possible, trying not to get angry and especially away from anxiety and stress. A good way, as we will see below, is to practice some relaxation or some other type of technique or exercise that will help us to be more relaxed.
Practice some relaxation
Those who practice some technique or method of relaxation usually, usually enjoy a much more peaceful and relaxed life; They even see the problems and nervous tensions of the day to day in a totally different way.
Just practice 30 minutes of relaxation each day. And to practice it is only necessary to enjoy a few minutes of tranquility, place ourselves in a comfortable place, close our eyes and try to focus on our own breathing, moving negative thoughts from our mind and focusing on a situation that causes us pleasure. Practicing it little by little in a few days you will observe its incredible benefits.
Take care of your diet: vegetable foods are better. Eat less meat
Those who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet tend to have fewer heart problems, mainly because their diet is based on the consumption of fresh foods of vegetable origin, with high content of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other substances beneficial to the body.
In addition, it is known that those who consume meat (especially red meat), have a higher risk of heart disease, since they tend to have higher cholesterol levels.
Therefore, the key is not only in increase the consumption of plant foods and try to eat less red meat. We also have to control our cholesterol levels, especially if we have the high cholesterol, because if we exceed 240 mg / dl of high cholesterol we will be doubling the risk of suffering a heart attack.
We must also, yes, control our HDL cholesterol levels, also known as good cholesterol. Ideally, your figure should be above 40 mg / dl.
- Heart-healthy foods: the best for your heart
What are the main heart diseases?
Before going on to talk about the main diseases that affect the heart, we must bear in mind that, together with the heart, the circulatory system functions as a real system that extends throughout the entire body.
For this reason, when a disease affects the heart, it also affects the entire organism. And for that reason heart diseases are also medically known as cardiovascular diseases.
- Endocartitis:Infectious disease that causes inflammation of the inner lining of the valves and cardiac cavities, especially by bacteria that grow forming structures (vegetations). If not treated quickly, it can damage the heart valves irreversibly.
- Myocarditis:Viral infection that causes inflammation of the myocardium, which results in a decrease in the force of contraction of the heart.
- Pericarditis:Caused by a viral infection, causes inflammation, which can cause liquid to enter the layers of the pericardium, seriously jeopardizing the proper functioning of the heart, as it can cause the formation of adhesions and scars.
- Angina pectoris:Caused by an insufficient supply of blood to the heart muscle.
- Heart attack:Severe coronary disease that can cause myocardial necrosis. A coronary stenosis develops first, leaving the pericardium blocked, which causes severe pain in the heart.
- Arrhythmia:It is a disorder of the heart rhythm produced by the malfunction of the coordination of the electrical activity of the heartbeat.
- Heart failure:It occurs when the heart is unable to pump adequate amounts of blood to the body, not being able to supply needed oxygen and nutrients. It can develop due to any damage to the heart.
