Do you know that CORONARY HEART DISEASE is the most common type of heart disease in developed and industrialized countries? Have you heard that CHD is responsible for over half a million death in the United States and more than 150,000 death in the U.K. alone yearly? What is this Coronary Heart Disease all about anyway? Let’s get to know CHD and what causes it.

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is simply the disease of the coronary artery, a situation whereby the artery that supply blood to the heart is clogged or blocked, reducing blood flow to the heart muscles which need oxygen from the blood supply and this could lead to a complete artery blockage . When this happens in the heart, the result is heart attack medically known as myocardial infarction. The same process in blood vessels supplying the brain results in a stroke.
Coronary Heart Disease is caused mainly by:
-formation of plagues (fatty deposits) in the lining of the and,
-rupture of this plagues and a subsequent development of a blood clot known as thrombosis in the artery.
These plagues narrow the arteries so that less blood flows through them thereby depriving the heart muscles of the much needed oxygen. If blood supply is not restored, there will be a permanent damage to the heart.

Because of our western lifestyle especially in dieting, the health of arteries gradually deteriorates as we grow older. Fats and cholesterol is the major cloggier of the arteries. The fatty deposits (plagues) in the artery are medically called atheroma and the whole process is known as atherosclerosis.
The more the fatty deposits (plagues), the greater the risk of heart attacks. Women should beware because a woman's heart is smaller and has narrower coronary arteries than a man's, so it takes less plague to block them.
Plague rupture and thrombosis leads to a complete blockage of an artery. When these plagues break, it releases a complex chemical which triggers a lot of events leading to thrombosis.

The most common symptom of CHD is Angina Pectoris (chest pain). Angina occurs as a result of restriction of blood flow to the heart due to plague formation in the coronary arteries. The pain is described as a crushing or gripping pain across the chest which may also radiate into the teeth or throat and followed by sweating and breathlessness.
The pain arises from the muscle fiber of the heart that has insufficient supply of oxygen. The harder the heart muscles works, the more the oxygen will be required and the greater the imbalance between the oxygen supply and demand. This is why Angina is typically triggered by physical activities. It can also occur after stress and anxiety.

Heart attack (myocardial infarction) occurs when the degree of narrowing of the coronary is high or if there has been a blood clot (thrombosis) which blocks the arteries. It is important to know that heart attack can occur anytime, anywhere without warning. These are the warning symptoms of heart attack.

- Chest discomfort
- sweating
- Dizziness or nausea
- Fatigue, palpitation
- Fainting, breathlessness. Not all these symptoms occur in every attack

CHD and stroke are two most common form of cardiovascular disease. They account for about 75% of all the deaths relating to heart diseases.

To learn more about Coronary heart diseases Call 1-800-AHA-USA1 (1-800-242-8721) or visit http://www.americanheart.org

Knowledge is power, so Learn and Live!

What is this astonishing organ called the heart. This organ which is the most vital part of our being, without it our body will not function, what actually makes this organ so important and special that when mentioned in poetry, it warms us, but by mere mention of it by our doctors, alas! we’re alarmed.
So let's see what makes this organ the HEART of our being.
The heart in anatomy is a hollow muscular organ in the middle of our chest just to the left of the center that pumps through the body.
It's comprised of four chambers, the right and atrium (auricle), the upper part and the right and left ventricle, the lower part. It's weight around 10oz and beat on average of 50 -70 times per minute, 100,000 per day and a roughly 40 million times per year. At average lifetime of about 76years, it will beat for at least 3 billion times. It pumps around 500 gallons of blood everyday.
The heart is our body system power house because every organ and tissues in the body needs a continuous supply of blood to function normally, especially the circulatory system, the brain and even the heart itself. If the heart does not pump blood for a few minutes, death will be the result.
The heart is made primarily of muscle tissues that rhythmically contracts to pump blood to all parts of the body. This start from when you are born to entire lifetime.
The upper part, i.e. the atria or auricle acts as a collecting reservoir while the lower part, the ventricle contract to pump the blood on. The right side of the heart receives blood throughthe veins coming from all over the body and pump the oxygen-poor blood that it has received to the lungs so that it can pick up oxygen from the air we breath in, while the left side then collect the oxygen-rich blood coming from the lung and pumps it to all the tissues and organs in need of oxygen.
There are four valves that prevents blood from flowing back to the heart. They are the pulmonary, aortic, mitral and the triscupic valves.
The heart muscle medically known as myocardium requires a very good supply of oxygen in order to be able to pump blood different organs and tissues of the body. And this blood supply is provided by the coronary arteries and their branches
The heart is surrounded by a tough, double-layered sac known as the pericardium which has an inner layer called the epicardium. The outer layer of the epicardium helps to hold the heart in place and between these two layers is a tiny space filled with fluid which prevent them from rubbing against each other when the heart contracts.
The coronary arteries come off the aorta (the largest blood vessel in the body). The right coronary artery is usually smaller and supplies the down side of the heart while the left artery has two main branches called the Circumflex and the anterior descending. These coronary arteries are so special that blood can flow through them into the heart muscles between heart beat i.e. as it relaxes.
The Heartbeat: the right and left halve of the heart contracts in unison to produce a single heartbeat. The two phase of heartbeat are called the systole where the heart chambers contract to move blood and the diastole where the heart chambers are relaxing between a beat. Because of these two phases, the heart is able to pump much blood with each beat.

To learn more about coronary heart disease Call 1-800-AHA-USA1 (1-800-242-8721) or visit http://www.americanheart.org

Knowledge is power, so Learn and Live!