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From taking the #1 spot as the most populated country in the world, India has also recently earned itself the title of “Chronic Heart Disease Capital”. There seems to be a major cardiac health crisis going on in the country, especially with young people suddenly dying due to heart attacks.
But it wasn’t always this way.
Ages ago, humanity was dying of very preventable, infectious diseases merely because of a lack of advancements in medical and technological fields. People didn’t usually live long enough to die of chronic diseases like cancer, obesity, heart disease, or diabetes.
But now, with innovations in every possible field, life has gotten far simpler. So simple, in fact, that the lifestyle factors which were once considered luxuries are now killing people. The cozy, sedentary life full of junk food, tobacco, and alcohol is taking lives more rapidly now than ever before. And it seems to be especially rampant in the Indian subcontinent. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the country.
It becomes necessary, then, to understand this vital organ and what we can do to make sure it gets the care it needs.
What is the heart? How does it work?
The heart is a crucial organ at the core of your system. It’s entirely made of muscle tissue and regulates blood circulation. It pumps blood to every part of your body, with 4 main chambers separated by “heart valves” to regulate the direction of blood flow.
The rhythmic pumping of the heart is regulated by electrical impulses. A healthy heart, with functional electrical impulses, will properly supply blood to the body. A healthy, adult heart rate varies with age and other variables, but ranges from 60 - 100 beats per minute.
But if the heart is diseased, the blood flow gets affected as well. Your organs will not get sufficient blood if the heart isn’t pumping it properly. And if the electrical impulses are chaotic, the pumping gets out of control and can lead to irregular heartbeats (arrhythmia) where the heart beats too fast or too slow, leading to a heart attack.
What causes heart problems?
Diseases affect cardiac tissue in different ways, such as thickening of the heart muscle, inflammation of the heart which can cause heart failure, and through congenital heart diseases that develop before birth. In individuals that aren’t born with heart conditions, chronic heart disease can be attributed to factors like poor diet, lack of activity, smoking, substance abuse, and excessive alcohol consumption.
The Unnoticed Factors in Blood
Conventional approaches have always missed the spot when it comes to accurately finding the cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and likewise give the wrong instructions on following the right lifestyle to avoid CVDs.
“In the 1990s, we focused on sodium and saturated fat as the culprits of cardiovascular disease,” Zimmerman says. “So we turned to low-fat products that replaced the fat with sugar. We now know this didn’t address the issue, because obesity and heart disease have continued to rise.” reports this article.
Coronary Heart Disease is an example of a heart disease caused by the buildup of fat or ‘plaque’ in arteries. But fat and cholesterol have erroneously been put in the spotlight for too long. They’ve been pushed as the single worst things to happen to heart health, but upon closer examination, functional nutrition has found that 3 root causes lie at the heart of cardiac disease:
These are the markers that you should focus on improving to prevent heart disease.
When learning to take care of your heart, it’s necessary to focus on healing holistically. We recommend:
The heart is the muscular superhero of your body’s movie. It’s actively involved right from the prologue to the epilogue, and never rests even for a moment. It can get worn down over time, and lifestyle factors can lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases. That’s why it’s important to care for your heart and make sure it doesn’t tire out before it needs to. You can use these functional tips to keep you and your heart happy, healthy, and flourishing.
Other References:
https://www.ncdemography.org/2014/06/16/mortality-and-cause-of-death-1900-v-2010/
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4829a1.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470658/
https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/health-effects-tobacco-use/how-smoking-affects-heart-health
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/secondhand-smoke/health.html
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/heart
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/heart/anatomy
https://www.rupahealth.com/post/what-is-a-heart-healthy-diet-and-who-should-follow-one
https://www.ithrive.shop/products/coenzyme-q10-with-l-carnitine
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