Did you know?
Your heart beats (expands and contracts) about 100,000 times while pumping about 2,000 gallons of blood per day, making it one of the hardest working organs of our body. That said, it definitely deserves a toast for working tirelessly 24/7 just to ensure our physiological needs are being met and deliver oxygen to us!
In conjunction with the World Heart Day 2022, themed: Use Heart for Every Heart, the World Heart Federation organization has brought about 3 main messages for everyone to take a minute and consider how to use hearts, for humanity, for nature, and for you.
Little background
World Heart Day is an important day that has been celebrated on the September 29th of every year since 2000. It is an initiative proposed by the president of World Heart Federation in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) with the aim to effectively direct the attention of the public to the many cardiovascular (heart) diseases (CVD) and how they can control and prevent them in overcoming the major health impact it brings.
Image credit: World Heart Federation
According to statistics, an average of 17.9 million lives have been taken each year due to heart-related illnesses with stroke and ischemic heart disease being the most common ones. As the leading cause of death, this staggering figure needs to be highlighted as it accounts for more than that of people who died from HIV, cancer and malaria combined. The good news is that the primary causes of CVD are modifiable factors such as the lack of physical activity, smoking, and/or poor diet, all of which can be prevented if appropriate measures and actions are taken.
World Heart Day is therefore the perfect opportunity to shed light on the importance of taking care of your heart health by encouraging the public to practise easy, manageable lifestyle habits to fight against CVD. At the same time it also wishes to reduce the global disease burden that is often associated with high treatment costs due to its chronic nature.
Who is Prone to CVD?
Generally looking after your heart starts with the basic understanding of what puts someone at risk of developing CVD. There are many risk factors that have been linked to CVD ranging from non-modifiable (family history) to modifiable (pre-existing high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, tobacco etc) factors. However, it does not necessarily mean you will get CVD just because you have a risk factor. It just means that the more risk factors you have, the more inclined you are to develop CVD unless early preventive actions are taken and routine health screening is performed.
Fun Facts About the Heart and Reasons Why Your Heart is So Amazing <3
#1 Your heart is a vital organ that works like a coordinated machine.
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The right side of your heart essentially pumps blood into your lungs while the left side pumps it back into your body. The blood pumped by your heart provides your body with oxygen and nutrients needed for your body to function like it should.
#2 Your heart has its own electrical supply and can still beat after being removed from your body
#3 A normal heart pumps about 4 tablespoons of blood with each beat.
#4 The heart is about the size of your closed fist.
#5 The beating sound of your heart comes from the opening and closing of your heart valves.
#6 If you were to stretch out the blood system, it would extend over 60,000 miles.
#7 Heart disease is your biggest health threat and can be a silent killer if not recognised earlier.
#8 You can take charge of your heart health by incorporating a healthy and balanced diet, exercising at least 150 minutes a week and quitting smoking.
#9 Studies have also reported happiness and a strong sense of vitality to minimise the risk of developing heart disease.
#10 Heart cells do not divide forever, thus heart cancer is extremely rare.
Now that we’ve seen how selfless and incredible our heart is, we should definitely start taking the necessary precautionary steps to ensure the optimum health of our heart and to steer away from heart diseases. It’s never too late to start! To know more about how to protect our heart like a champ, kindly visit our previous article here.
With that we wish everyone Happy World Heart Day!
PS: A healthy heart is key to healthy life~
Written by Janelle Leong,Bpharm (HONS)
References
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World Heart Day - National Today. Available at https://nationaltoday.com/world-heart-day/ Accessed on 28th September 2022
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About World Heart Day - World Heart Federation. Available at https://world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/about-whd/ Accessed on 28th September 2022
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World Heart Day; Risk Factors - World Heart Federation. Available at https://world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/cvd-causes-conditions/risk-factors/ Accessed on 28th September 2022
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28 Amazing Facts About Your Heart - Cleveland Clinic. Available at https://health.clevelandclinic.org/facts-about-the-heart/ Accessed on 28th September 2022
