Eclipse of the Heart

Every third person in the world dies because of it

If you ask the first person you meet which of the most dangerous diseases existing in nature, he will probably remember cancer, AIDS and the plague
with cholera. And he will be wrong. Because in every third death
It is not oncology or HIV infection that are to blame for the diseases in the world,
and diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Even 1 cigarette a day is like terrible stress?
Just a couple of hundred years ago, the situation with heart disease was much less frightening: the main scare was that a heart attack in 1850 was probably considered almost an exotic disease. The year is 2003, and the statistics are depressing: in Russia, mortality due to diseases of the cardiovascular system is 52-55 percent. However, many still do not know exactly where a person’s heart is located.
The heart is a complex organ, and therefore there are many diseases that affect it. In addition, they, like threads in a ball, are closely connected to each other - per day, the working heart pumps 20 tons of blood through the vessels, and if something in this chain starts to go wrong, sooner or later it affects the entire system.
Judge for yourself: in approximately 90 percent of cases, heart patients die from coronary heart disease - it is also called coronary disease. Ischemia, in turn, in the vast majority (98 percent) of cases is a consequence of atherosclerosis. Where does atherosclerosis come from? That's right, from poor nutrition, smoking, heavy libations and other manifestations of a disregard for oneself.
Lifestyle really plays a huge role in the case of the heart. Well, what kind of self-indulgence, it would seem, isn’t you into a couple of cigarettes? However, smoking 1-4 cigarettes a day increases the risk of heart disease by 2 times. Nicotine causes vasospasm, blood flow slows down, causing the heart to work harder. With alcohol and stress, everything is exactly the same: by spasming the blood vessels, they load them, and therefore the long-suffering heart.
Lifestyle isn't everything though. A predisposition to heart disease can be inherited, for example. Or by age - the older a person is, the greater his chances of joining the multi-million army of heart patients. If between the ages of 45 and 65 the heart fails in 1 out of 9 people, then after 65 it occurs in every third person.

Will regular beans, peas and tea save the day?

Heart disease does not happen suddenly - it develops over decades. Therefore, in order not to join the ranks of heart patients, it is better to spend these years on prevention. Which one exactly? There are a lot of tips, but they are all very simple and do not require anything other than your desire to be healthy.
Stop smoking. This is the best thing you can do for your heart. Just one year after you smoke your last cigarette, your risk of heart disease will drop by 58 percent. After three years or more, it will be the same as if you had never smoked at all.
Eat buckwheat and carrots, as well as potatoes (not boiled, but baked in their skins), legumes and peas. Regarding the latter, the Minneapolis Heart Institute released the following data: in those who eat peas, beans, etc. for a long time. at least 4 times a week, the chances of getting heart disease are 22 percent lower. There is evidence that fatty sea fish (mackerel, for example) are useful for protecting the heart, but those who already suffer from atherosclerosis should not eat it.
Drink green tea. It will only benefit people with atherosclerosis - and everyone else too. It contains substances that strengthen the walls of blood vessels and reduce the level of dangerous low-density cholesterol in the blood. In terms of its beneficial effects on the heart, green tea can be compared to red wine.
Get off the couch. It doesn’t matter what kind of sport you do it for: if you like swimming, swim; if you want to use the gym, go for it. Any type of activity is good for your heart, if you can do it and like it. However, by “useful” we mean regular exercise, and not a forced run after the last tram, which can drive you to the grave.
Take vitamins. This is especially true for vitamins C, A and E, as well as magnesium and potassium - these are the first “heartfelt” friends. Cardiologists knew about how detrimental a lack of vitamin C is to the heart back in the forties of the last century. And when vitamin C consumption increased by 300 percent in the United States in the 1970s, mortality from heart disease dropped by a third.
Watch your blood pressure. This is especially necessary for those who have someone in their family who suffered from cardiovascular diseases. Doctors advise women from such families to regularly measure their blood pressure starting at the age of 20. From 30-35 years old this will not interfere with everyone else.


Do women have all their troubles 10 years later?

It is generally accepted that heart disease is a problem exclusively for men. This is not entirely true. Nature really gave the female sex a gift - while a woman is of childbearing age, her heart is protected by hormones. But this is if everything is fine with her gynecology and she does not live in a state of constant stress. Recently, women are giving birth less and thinking more about how to feed themselves and their families. Many representatives of the fairer sex have supplanted men in leadership positions and in business, as a result of which they began to suffer more from overload and fatigue. This backfired on them with early heart attacks and other heart troubles. This is the price for success. However, it has not yet been possible to catch up and overtake the men. Fortunately.
In general, women experience heart disease on average 10-15 years later than men. There are fewer heart patients under 50 years of age than heart patients, and at 65, a woman risks the same as a man at 55. However, the likelihood of heart disease in women increases sharply during menopause.
Of course, there is no escape from menopause, but something can be done: the risk is minimized if you take hormones during menopause. And follow our advice (see left).

important!
Heart problems are not only pain and the feeling that the “fiery engine” is about to stall. And the pain can be different - for example, it can radiate to the back, neck, be stabbing, pressing and even similar to a burning sensation. About a third of heart attacks generally happen quietly - a person mistakes them for other diseases or does not notice them at all, attributing poor health to the banal “didn’t get enough sleep” or “overworked.” Be attentive to yourself: shortness of breath, frequent tachycardia (strong heartbeat), headache, special cough, general weakness, and even problems with sleep can signal problems with your heart.


prepared by Irina Lipovets.