Did you know that your heart beats around 100,000 times daily and pumps around 2000 gallons of blood across your body? Basically, your heart is the rudimentary organ that is the key player in regulating blood in your body.
As opposed to any other organ, your heart does more physical work; therefore, it's essential for it to be taken care of. Heart failure affects over 900,000 people in the United Kingdom. Equally as alarming are strokes, which happen every 5 minutes in the UK and are often the trigger of severe disabilities.
If you're concerned about your heart health or just want to stay on top of it, you've come to the right place; we have covered you in this article.
What is the heart, and what does it do?
Your heart is a major muscular organ situated between the lungs in the middle of the chest. While it does a lot of the body's hard work, it's as tiny as a fist and needs to be looked after carefully. It has four muscular sections that work through electrical impulses sent from your brain and nervous system to break it down even further.
It contains four walls, a chamber, blood vessels, and valves. The heart's upper two chambers are arteries, and the lower ones are called the ventricles. The heart pumps blood through the network of arteries and veins, also known as the cardiovascular system.
The heart works by the following:
- The right artery collects oxygenated blood and delivers it to the right ventricle.
- The right ventricle receives blood and circulates it to the lungs, where it is oxygenated.
- The left atrium is responsible for transporting oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left ventricle.
- Because it distributes oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, the left ventricle is a vital heart chamber.
What are the signs and causes of a healthy heart?
Having a healthy heart plays an essential and significant role in having a long life. You can do many things yourself to ensure your heart stays in good condition for as long as possible. But before knowing what to do, it's important to identify with common signs that signify your heart is healthy. They are the following:
- Stable blood pressure: One of the vital signs of a healthy heart is having blood pressure that's balanced. A good healthy blood pressure is often below 120/80 mm Hg for a healthy heart.
- Low cholesterol: Cholesterol is needed for the body to build healthy cells, but high levels of specific cholesterol can be caused genetically by an unhealthy lifestyle; therefore, you should aim to have levels within 100mg/dl-150mg/dl.
- Routine exercise: A healthy dose of exercise is a sign of a healthy heart. Exercise measures the changes in your heart rate after you stop working out or doing another high-intensity activity. Often one of the major signs of a healthy heart is high energy levels, and this comes from regular exercise.
Things that Negatively Affect your Heart
Being lazy
If you don't take part in regular exercise, you can face a higher risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and more. Being inactive is equally as bad as smoking tobacco.
Drinking too much alcohol
If you excessively drink alcohol, you're at risk of gaining weight, increasing your blood pressure, putting yourself at risk of type 2 diabetes and more. The more you drink, the more likely you're going to make your heart muscle weaker, and it increases the chances of heart disease or stroke.
Being overweight
One thing you must be conscious of if you want to have a healthy heart is your weight. If you gain too much weight, you're more at risk of fatty material clogging your arteries, stopping blood from being carried to your heart. As a result, the more damaged or clogged arteries you have, the more likely you're at risk of having a heart attack.
Smoking cigarettes
Like weight gain, smoking can also drastically affect your heart. When you smoke tobacco, the chemicals inside of it can cause plaque to build up in your blood vessels. As a result, you're at greater risk of coronary heart disease as your arteries can become blocked or more narrow.
Too much stress
If you suffer from repeated stress, it can cause you to have high blood pressure and put you at risk of heart problems. In particular, you're more likely to have high blood pressure and less good HDL cholesterol. The more exposed to high blood pressure and bad cholesterol, the greater risk you are of experiencing heart failure and a heart attack.
Common Heart Illnesses
If you neglect your heart health, you could be at risk of the following heart diseases:
Angina
This is a form of pain or discomfort that arises in your chest or arm when the blood supply leading to your heart is restricted. This normally occurs due to narrow arteries and could increase your risk of a heart attack or stroke. If you feel pain in your chest or arm and it might be happening to you, you must see your doctor immediately.
Coronary heart disease
This type of heart disease forms as a result of plaque buildup in your arteries. Often the plaque accumulates due to consuming foods high in bad cholesterol. Too much plaque can cause your arteries to narrow, leading to pain in your chest, as a lack of oxygen rich blood is delivered from your arteries.
Heart attack
Also known as a myocardial infarction, a heart attack can occur when your heart does not get enough blood from your arteries. One of the leading causes of heart attacks is coronary heart disease.
Heart Failure
This occurs when your heart cannot pump sufficient blood around your body. Heart failure mainly occurs when your heart is weak or does not work as efficiently as it used to. Often when heart failure occurs, you'll experience pain in your chest as your heart cannot cope with your body's demand for blood and oxygen.
Conclusion
Overall, your heart is an essential organ that you need to live properly. In fact, it's the sole organ that helps other organs work. No matter how old you are, you should always prioritise your heart health and avoid tobacco, and drinking, be cautious of your weight and exercise to help it stay intact.
Alongside this, you should consider your diet carefully to stop plaque from accumulating in your arteries, putting you at risk of certain heart diseases.