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| Heart Disease |
Your heart is the engine that drives your body. It is a powerful muscle that pumps blood to your entire body, providing the oxygen and nutrients that you need to live. Before we look at heart disease, lets first take a closer look at the basic mechanics of the human heart and its function. The heart is a pump consisting of four chambers. The right atrium, which receives deoxygenated blood from the body via the inferior and superior vena cava veins. The right ventricle, which pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs to become oxygenated via the pulmonary artery. The left atrium, which receives oxygenated blood from the lungs via the pulmonary vein. The left ventricle, which pumps the oxygenated blood to the body via the aorta. The heart, just like any other organ of the body needs a regular supply of oxygen to function correctly. This supply of oxygen to the heart is carried in the blood stream and delivered via the coronary arteries. These arteries branch off into smaller vessels that run along the surface and into the myocardium (heart muscle). It is these vessels of life that are of much concern to health practitioners regarding coronary heart disease.
WHAT IS CORONARY HEART DISEASE?
Heart disease is a name given to a variety of conditions that affect the performance of the heart. Coronary heart disease refers to the build up of fatty substances (atherosclerosis) within the arteries supplying oxygen to the heart. First, fatty plaque narrows the coronary arteries, then the plaque calcifies causing thickening and damage to the artery walls. If the heart does not get enough oxygen you will experience symptoms like angina. A heart attack is caused by complete obstruction of one or more of the main arteries supplying the heart with oxygen. The initial damage to the
arteries is thought to be caused by factors such as high levels of cholesterol in the blood, high blood pressure experienced over a long period of time, carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke and high levels of glucose in the blood commonly experienced by people with diabetes.
According to the British heart foundation, heart disease kills more people, both male and female than any other disease. One British adult dies of heart disease every three minutes and 70% of the population have some form of CHD.
HOW CAN HEART DISEASE BE PREVENTED?
Because coronary heart disease tends to develop gradually, effective strategies exist to help prevent or control it. Individuals should become well informed about how changes in lifestyle and behaviours can reduce the speed at which atherosclerosis or other heart related problems develop. By learning, understanding and controlling the factors that cause heart disease, can help in the fight against it. There are several main risk factors that contribute to CHD that you as an individual can do something about.
• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• High blood cholesterol
• Physical inactivity
• Body weight
• Dietary habits
• Stress
There are also influencing factors that cannot be controlled such as
• Family history
• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
Your potential risk of CHD depends on how many of the risk factors you have and the severity at which you have them.
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