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Heart Health : About

Heart Health

What is Heart Health?

The heart beats about 2.5 billion times over the average lifetime, pushing millions of gallons of blood to every part of the body. This steady flow carries with it oxygen, fuel, hormones, other compounds, and a host of essential cells. It also whisks away the waste products of metabolism. When the heart stops, essential functions fail, some almost instantly.

Given the heart's never-ending workload, it's a wonder it performs so well, for so long, for so many people. But it can also fail, brought down by a poor diet and lack of exercise, smoking, infection, unlucky genes, and more.

A key problem is atherosclerosis. This is the accumulation of pockets of cholesterol-rich gunk inside the arteries. These pockets, called plaque, can limit blood flow through arteries that nourish the heart — the coronary arteries — and other arteries throughout the body. When a plaque breaks apart, it can cause a heart attack or stroke.

Although many people develop some form of cardiovascular disease (a catch-all term for all of the diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels) as they get older, it isn't inevitable. A healthy lifestyle, especially when started at a young age, goes a long way to preventing cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle changes and medications can nip heart-harming trends, like high blood pressure or high cholesterol, in the bud before they cause damage. And a variety of medications, operations, and devices can help support the heart if damage occurs. Continue reading from Harvard Health Publishing

Know the Signs of a Heart Attack

              Link to Heart Attack Signs: Men VS. Women from WebMD

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Online Resources about Heart Health

 

American Heart Association
Information includes understanding your condition and current research.

Centers For Disease Control and Prevention
Includes facts, statistics, information about prevention and risk factors.

MedlinePlus
Brings you information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in language you can understand. 

National Heart Blood & Lung Institute
NHBLI provides brochures, health guides, recipes, health assessment tools, research and trials.

National Institutes of Health
Includes relevant links as well as answers to common questions.

U.S. National Library of Medicine
Search for more in-depth information such as PubMed articles.

From Our Collection

Link to The Source of All Things by Reinhard Friedl in the Catalog
Link to The Heart by Maylis De Kerangal in the Catalog
Link to Heart: A History by Sandeep Jauhar in the Catalog
Link to Heart Solution for Women by Mark Menolascino MD in the Catalog
Link to The Complete Mediterranean Diet by Michael Ozner MD in the Catalog
Link to The End of Heart Disease by Joel Fuhrman MD in the Catalog
Link to The complete heart-healthy cookbook for beginners by Justine Hays in the Catalog

Link to the Health & Wellness Resource Guide Series Homepage