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The Human Heart
A human being's heart is about the size of the same human being's fist. An average adult heart weighs about 11 ounces or 310 grams. As the body develops, the heart grows at the same rate as the fist. Like other body parts, the heart needs oxygen in order to grow and develop properly, with the childhood years being the greatest. The heart's rate of pumping oxygen-rich blood is fastest in infancy, about 120 beats per minute. This continues to decease as the we grow older from about 90 times per minute for an average 7 year old, to stabilising at about 70 times per minute at the age of 18. By adulthood, the heart is fully developed. The nervous system regulates the beats, without it the heart would beat about 100 times per minute. The parasympathetic nervous system regulates the resting heart rate of about 70, while the sympathetic nervous system controls the exaggerated heart rate of anything up to 220 beats per minute.
An excerpt from BBC Science website: "Blood carries oxygen and many other substances around your body. Oxygen
from your blood reacts with sugar in your cells to make energy. The waste product of this process, carbon dioxide, is carried away from your cells in your blood."
"Your heart is a single organ, but it acts as a double pump. The first pump carries oxygen-poor blood to your lungs, where it unloads carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen. It then delivers oxygen-rich blood back to your heart. The second pump delivers oxygen-rich blood to every part of your body. Blood needing more oxygen is sent back to the heart to begin the cycle again. In one day your heart transports all your blood around your body about 1000 times."
"Your right ventricle pumps blood to your lungs and your left ventricle pumps blood all around your body. The muscular walls of the left ventricle are thicker than those of the right ventricle, making it a much more powerful pump. For this reason, it is easiest to feel your heart beating on the left side of your chest".
"Although your heart is continually filled with blood, this blood doesn't provide your heart with oxygen. The blood supply that provides oxygen and nutrients to your heart is provided by blood vessels that wrap around the outside of your heart."
Throughout life, the heart needs only to be maintained and kept healthy in order to function, so by taking take care of your heart, your heart should take care of you.
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We
need to start taking better care of our heart
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Heart Disease in Ireland is up
The following it taken from - www.heart.ie:
“Heart disease and stroke are major killers in Ireland. They account for nearly 40% of Irish deaths each year. In 2007 alone some 10,000 people died from heart disease and stroke. In 2005 - Cancer (28%) and diseases of the respiratory system (14%) are the next biggest killers. Furthermore, Ireland's death rate from heart disease is one of the highest in Europe.”
“Stroke is a major killer and cause of disability in Ireland. In 2005, 2,029 people died as a result of stroke - 885 men and 1,144 women.”
“There are currently over 30,000 people living with a stroke-related disability. One-fifth of these cannot walk as a result and half require assistance with daily living activities, such as washing and dressing.”
"Of the deaths from ischaemic heart disease, 2,839 were men and 2,225 were women. The vast majority were aged 65 and older."
"On a global scale, the World Health Organisation estimates that 17 million people die every year as a result of cardiovascular disease, particularly heart attacks and stroke. This represents almost one-third of all deaths globally."
"By 2020, heart disease and stroke will become the leading cause of both death and disability worldwide, with the number of fatalities projected to increase to over 20 million a year. By 2030, this number is expected to jump again to 24 million fatalities per year."
From an EU health report: “Obesity of children and related diseases including diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart disease are of major concern as the threat of an epidemic looms in many western countries including Europe and the USA”
It is so important that we start to take better care of ourselves if we want to enjoy our later years. What's the point with reaching retirement and not being physically able to embrace it. What was all that hard work for? And if our children are suffering from the effects of a sedentary lifestyle already, they may not even get to enjoy a healthy adulthood. We are our own chemists, but that chemist can only stay open for so long until it runs out of supplies. By eating a balanced diet and getting in that bit of regular exercise we can help our chemists stay open a lot longer, reaping in the rewards. Its a matter of routine. The more frequent you do something, the easier it becomes to do. The brain gets used to the pattern, and before you know it you are carrying out your routine without any extra thought or concern. Its takes a bit of persistence but you will be rewarded with the lack of effort required after time. It just all adds up to a fuller happier life.
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