8 facts about the heart that you need to know to be healthy

How heart healthy and hardy, but at the same time, defenseless in front of our neglect, tell the doctors of the Center of cardiac surgery being a cardiac surgeon Alexander Babiak and cardiologist Kateryna Revenko.

Man perceives the heartbeat for granted and rarely think about how much effort it makes every second that we live. For example, his power and the heart itself produces the energy needed for contraction of the myocardium, the day produces as much electricity as would be enough to fill the truck at 32 km of the road. If you fold the energy produced in a lifetime, to ride in the truck on a distance equal to the way to the moon and back. Such productivity is essential to the heart of the coped with all of its impressive economy, and it is about 75 trillion cells, which pushes the heart muscle the blood carries oxygen and nutrients.

What other incredible facts and figures may surprise us heart?

80% of heart problems can be prevented by leading a healthy lifestyle

80% of heart problems can be prevented by leading a healthy lifestyle and controlling blood pressure, cholesterol and weight. That is, only 20 % of cases of heart disease are a consequence of the inherent nature of the pathologies. The rest is a consequence of our neglect of this incredibly hardworking organ. By the way, during life the heart contracts about 2.5 billion times and pumps a volume of blood as flowed out to water, we leave an open faucet-the faucet in the kitchen for 45 years!

The heart suffers when we lead an active night life, and even when they eat after midnight

At night the metabolism slows down and the heart appears long-awaited opportunity to rest: the frequency of contractions is reduced by 810 %. But it is when we sleep. If all, including eating (and, hence, the body needs energy to digest food), the heart has to join the work to the maximum. And it is not difficult to guess, wears the myocardium.

To be healthy heart, the day you need to exercise muscles at least every hour

That is, if you have to sit or stand every 60 minutes to pace to warm up. It is necessary, first, for the normal circulation of the blood: the muscles it is no wonder is called the second heart, they help the venous blood overcome the force of gravity up to the heart. Secondly, the normal operation of muscles the key to a healthy environment in the blood vessels. When we load our muscular system, synthesized chemicals and proteins that help to control the level of sugar and cholesterol in the blood.

The heart suffers when we are depressed, and comes alive when we laugh or embrace

During the embrace the hormone oxytocin that can reduce blood pressure and frequency of heart muscle contractions, thereby saving the resource of the heart. But when we laugh, the body becomes less of the fear hormone cortisol, a large number of which increases the risk of diabetes and obesity, leads to increased pressure and cholesterol levels. Cortisol especially a lot when a person frequently or constantly is in a stressful situation, experiencing depression.

A broken heart isn’t a metaphor

The broken heart syndrome called cardiomyopathy takotsubo, as a result of the experience of extreme stress (e.g., loss of a loved one) into the blood large quantities of catecholamines (it is mostly about adrenaline), which leads to spasm of the coronary vessels and the inability of certain sections of the myocardium to contract. There is an acute heart failure, diagnosed sometimes even fatal ventricular tachycardia and rupture of the stomach wall. The disease is most common in women in menopause who have broken hormonal background. And fix cardiomyopathy takotsubo not so rare. Once a year we definitely faced with similar pathology, says cardiologist Dobrobut MS Kateryna Revenko.

Manifestations of cardiac abnormalities are different in men and women

If women who have heart problems usually complain of breathlessness, dizziness and shortness of breath, men in pain and pressure in the chest. This difference is due to different hormonal background. By the way, heart is very sensitive to its changes.

One of the most common diseases of the heart ischemic heart disease is completely curable

But, alas, is one of the main causes of death worldwide, including in Ukraine, where CHD annually takes the lives of more than 220000 people. IBS is a disturbance of blood supply to the heart muscle, due to which the myocardial cells receive less or do not receive oxygen (and then develops a heart attack some parts of the myocardium die). Blood flow is compromised when coronary vessels are narrowed or completely closed because of atherosclerotic plaques. To eliminate the problem and restore normal blood flow in the heart using either stenting or multi-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting. The main thing is to identify the disease in time until the heart affected by the heart attack.

Four out of five heart surgeries already are performed minimally invasive way

That is, the majority of cardiac surgical procedures today surgeons can do through a standard traumatic 25-inch incision in the sternum, and after sparing incision to 8 cm to the right or left between the ribs, says Alexander Babiak, cardiac surgeon clinic Dobrobut, where minimally invasive surgery is carried out on all valves (and plastic, and prosthetics), multi-vessel coronary artery bypass surgery, removal of cardiac tumors, correction of some congenital heart defects. The main advantage of minimally invasive cardiac surgery is much faster and more comfortable recovery: patients on the fifth day after operation discharged from hospital, two weeks later, can already walk several miles a day, drive a car and return to active life, and a month to go to work.