Keeping Your Heart Happy
Let’s Talk About the Cardiovascular System.
With three layers of overlapping muscles, the heart is often referred to as our strongest muscle. It’s definitely our hardest working – in fact it never rests! (well, okay I suppose at point it will) Our hearts each function quite impressively as a two-phase pump, with four chambers and it’s very own electrical impulse system. This seriously impressive impulse system is in charge of keeping our heartbeat regular. But the cardiovascular system doesn’t just refer to the heart, but also the network of arteries and veins that travel throughout our bodies. Arteries are strong elastic-type tubes that carry our blood to every nook and cranny of our bodies. Arteries decrease in diameter, becoming arterioles, and then capillaries, which in fact are quite miniscule! It is at this level of these thin-walled capillaries where oxygen and nutrients are dropped off, and where carbon dioxide and waste products are picked up. The now waste filled blood leaves the capillaries, entering our venules, connecting up to progressively larger veins and eventually back to the heart again. Working closely with the respiratory system (our lungs) another section of the circulation system takes our blood back and forth from the lungs, picking up fresh oxygen and leaving the carbon dioxide behind for our lungs to exhale. All in all, the circulatory system is quite impressive adding up to over 140,000 km of tubing!
Keeping the Cardiovascular System Happy.
It’s a complicated system, and when a problem arises you can bet there’s a list of complications connected to it! Making sure your heart muscles are not overly stressed or working harder than they should be is ultimately the key to a happy heart. What does that mean exactly? Well, earlier I mentioned that the heart is a muscle, a very hard-working muscle, but working it too hard – especially under stress – can lead to problems; just like overtraining in the gym with already fatigued muscles can lead to injuries.
Consider this; each heartbeat is essentially a muscle contraction, and a healthy average heart rate (as rest) is about 70 beats per minute.
if you were to have a higher resting heart rate – lets say 80 beats per minute - your heart is now having to beat 10 times more each minute to do the same job. An extra 10 beats per minute, means an extra 600 beats per hour, an extra 14400 beats per day, an extra 100800 beats per week, and over an extra 5.2 MILLION beats per year!
That’s a lot of extra work! But remember your heart IS a muscle, and you can train muscles to be stronger and more efficient – yes, even your heart! Being more efficient at doing its job, means you heart can save itself beats every minute but still get the same amount of work done. Now we have a happier heart!
The other thing to consider when looking at reducing stress on the heart is the force. No, not Star Wars, but the force of each heart muscle contraction as it pumps our blood. This is called blood pressure. Ultimately, if the force is too strong – or your blood pressure is too high (hypertension) - your arteries can become weaker, or even damaged. This can lead to a stroke, meaning the blood vessels in your brain ruptured because the high blood pressure force weakened them. So, how can we control this? While luckily again, the heart is a resilient muscle ad you can train the heart to work just as efficiently without so much force. This is where your healthcare professional can play an important role in figuring out what’s best for you and your heart. Proper nutrition, exercise, and stress management are all important factors, but each heart is going to need its own treatment plan.
And what’s even more important than proper treatment? Proper prevention! Hearth health shouldn’t become a topic of only once it’s a problem but before. Train your heart while its healthy to become healthier and your heart will thank you!
