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#WorldHeartDay: 5 Cool Heart Health Facts!

World Heart Day was founded in 2000 to inform people around the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading causes of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year. Celebrate a healthy heart this 29th of September with World Heart Day and with 5 amazing facts about the human heart.

Whether it’s a particularly dramatic Halloween prank or a home invader pointing a gun at you, something involuntary occurs inside the human heart. When the fight-or-flight response is triggered, the body needs extra strength. For that, the heart needs to beat stronger, something made possible by injection of calcium into heart cells.

If a person can’t calm down or the shock is simply too overwhelming, calcium and adrenaline keep pouring in. That fast pumping that was needed to temporarily enable the body to fight or run for the hills now cannot stop. Instead of beating, the heart trembles. If this is not treated, it can lead to a drop in blood pressure, unconsciousness, and ultimately death. People with healthy hearts can die this way, and cardiac patients face a higher risk.

Also Read: The Difference Between Heart Attack and Cardiac Arrest

Perhaps the most life-threatening and common ailment seen in chronic alcohol abuse is congestive heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy. Dilated cardiomyopathy basically refers to the fact that the heart has stretched so much, it often appears to look like a balloon on a chest X-ray, thus affecting its ability to pump blood throughout the body

Your heart beats around 100,000 times a day, Your heart pumps 8000 litres of blood a day. It works non stop for you. Please take care of your heart by getting yearly lipid profile, ECG and ECHO.

Dr. M.G. Kartheeka, MBBS, MD

The loss of hair, whether as a result of a medical condition or ageing, is often a great source of concern. It is usually males who go bald, while women almost always keep their hair, a fact related to testosterone levels. Baldness might seem cosmetic, but a recent medical study of 40,000 men has linked balding to a much greater risk of coronary heart disease. The peril of heart disease in men with male pattern baldness was found to be 70 percent greater than in non-balding males. Different levels of baldness carried differing risk levels, from 18 percent at mild to 48 percent for serious balding. The correlation between the top of the head baldness and heart disease is supposed to relate to multiple factors, potentially including insulin and hormone-related variables. Interestingly, a receding hairline and hair-loss away from the top of the head were not associated with heart disease.

  Although heart disease is an equal opportunity killer,  symptoms of heart attack  show up differently in men versus women. Whereas men often report crushing chest pain, sweating and nausea, women might instead experience shortness of breath, dizziness, and lightheadedness or fainting, pain in the lower chest or upper abdomen and upper back pressure.  

Your workouts not only boost your heart health, they can also serve as your body’s ”check engine” light.  If you spend a few sessions in a row struggling to run the same pace or complete the same circuit you usually do for no apparent reason, talk to your doctor.  This could signal that your heart’s not quite pumping enough blood, which is an early sign of heart trouble. This World Heart Day, make your move!

Must Read:  What is Holiday Heart Syndrome?

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