The War Of Cardiovascular Disease

The War on Cardiovascular Disease

Like many other complications dealing with the human body, cardiovascular disease is happening as we speak and a heart attack can strike at any time. Though some do not have great insight on the dangers involved with their daily lives, there are ways in which one can be aware and alert at all times. It would be to ones advantage to know about the heart, the causes of cardiovascular disease, and how to prevent a heart attack. It is confusing to understand why we as a society allow certain things such as food or smoking take advantage of our bodies with the harm and risks that are involved. It makes absolutely no sense on the number of people that we lose each year because of cardiovascular disease. Something must be done in order to preserve the human society. The one organ that mankind needs to survive is the heart.

Myocardium also known as the heart is a muscular pump about the size of a human fist which is located at the left center of your chest between the lungs. Surrounding the heart is a thin sac called the Pericardium. The pericardium consists of an inner and an outer layer. Normally a small amount of fluid fills the space between the heart and the Pericardium. Some conditions cause excess fluids to develop in the pericardial sac. If large amounts of fluids accumulate then it can push on the walls of the heart, making it hard for the heart to expand and take in blood. This is also known as cardiac temponde, and can diminish the effective pumping function of the heart. Inflammation of the pericardium is a condition that can cause severe chest pain. In bad cases it can cause a hard thickening to the pericardium and surgery will be needed to remove the pericardium. The heart pumps blood into many tubes which are known as arteries but mainly into the aorta and pulmonary arteries. The coronary arteries supply the heart muscle itself with blood branches off directly from the aorta. Veins return blood to the heart. The large veins that enter the heart are the superior vena cave, inferior vena cave, and the pulmonary veins. The heart consists of two chambers. Two atria towards the top portion of the heart are receiving chambers for blood returning from the veins. Two ventricles towards the bottom portion of the heart that pump blood into the arteries. Valves allow the blood to flow in one direction. The mitral valve on the left side and the tricuspid valve on the right side control the flow of blood from the arita to the ventricles. The circulation of blood flow can be a little tricky but can be understood. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body's organs while carbon dioxide and other waste away. Arteries branch repeatedly transporting blood to all the cells of every organ while veins join together, bringing blood back to the heart from every organ. Arteries branch until they become capillaries which are so tiny that only one blood cell can pass at a time. Now that the complications of a heart have been unraveled, the next factor to look at is what might cause cardiovascular disease.

There are many ways in which one can be affected by cardiovascular disease but some are unpreventable such as heredity, being a male over forty-five, and being a woman over fifty-five. As far as the other risk factors go you have; obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stress, and smoking which all tie into each other and can cause heart attacks. Fast foods are great for people who don't really have the time to sit down and eat and not all fast foods are unhealthy. Fast food products can be dangerous when you eat them in large proportions or when you eat too much of the fatty foods. McDonalds is a prime case for the leading to obesity in this country. Most fast food companies use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil better known as PHO. With PHO comes a lot of Trans fats that tend to clog arteries. McDonalds promised to eliminate the use of PHO but has yet to do so but they did eliminate the biggy sizes from the value menu. Since McDonalds is a number one spot for people in a hurry, it can be classified as one of the causes for obesity in the United States. The National Institute of Health says, "Being overweight or obese puts you at risk for developing many diseases especially cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer."(Paul Campos) From these conclusions, obesity is now an epidemic that threatens the foundations of society. " To avert an impending calamity, public health must take precedence over private profit, action must replace apathy, and passiveness must give way to the protection of our children"(Kelly Brownell and David Ludwig) With obesity you can develop diabetes which can lead to greater complications.

People who suffer from diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than people who do not have diabetes. More than half the people who die that are of the older race had complications with cardiovascular disease. High blood pressure is very common among people that are living with diabetes.

Diabetes does not show any outward symptoms, so many of the people who have high blood pressure do not even know about it. With high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, the heart starts to perform at higher rates which can later be the result of a heart attack. Many people who deal with high blood pressure are dealing with stress as well.

Research has been done by two men that go by the names of Mayer Friedman and Ray Rosenman about which type of people a prone to bad stress. Their conclusion was that the people who are usually more aggressive, hostile, and always in a rush fit the category