“Men develop heart disease 10 years earlier (on average) than women.¹  Men also show some of the more common signs of heart attack and stroke compared to women — which could make them easier to spot. However, heart disease is still the leading cause of death among men in the U.S. The general risk factors for heart disease, like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity are true for both men and women. But there are many other factors that put adult men of all ages at a higher risk for developing heart disease ”

United Health Care (https://www.uhc.com/health-and-wellness/health-topics/mens-health/heart-disease)

The term Heart Disease refers to several types of heart conditions, including coronary artery disease and heart attack.

Heart disease is the the leading causes of death for men in the United States!

How does heart disease affect men?

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States, killing 357,761 men in 2019—that’s about 1 in every 4 male deaths.
• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States (making up most of the U.S., including African Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and whites. For Asian American or Pacific Islander men, heart disease is second only to cancer.
• About 1 in 13 (7.7%) white men and 1 in 14 (7.1%) black men have coronary heart disease. About 1 in 17 (5.9%) Hispanic men have coronary heart disease.
• Half of the men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease had no previous symptoms. Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.
• Through Heart.org they state “Cardiovascular disease (CVD), listed as the underlying cause of death, accounted for. 868,662 deaths in the US in 2017″.

Sometimes heart disease may be “silent” and not diagnosed until a man experiences signs or symptoms of a heart attack, heart failure, or an arrhythmia.⁵ When these events happen, symptoms may include

• Heart attack: Chest pain or discomfort, upper back or neck pain, indigestion, heartburn, nausea or vomiting, extreme fatigue, upper body discomfort, dizziness, and shortness of breath.⁵
• Arrhythmia: Fluttering feelings in the chest (palpitations).⁵
• Heart failure: Shortness of breath, fatigue, or swelling of the feet, ankles, legs, abdomen, or neck veins.⁵

Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.

Cardiac/Pulmonary distress subjective s/s (pt only feels these symptoms) are chest pain/discomfort, headache, palpitations, dizziness.  Pulmonary would be short of breath or difficulty breathing which could be seen by you also if its moderate to severe.

What are the risks for heart disease?

In 2013–2016 47% of men had hypertension, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including

• Diabetes
• Overweight and obesity
• Unhealthy diet
• Physical inactivity
• Excessive alcohol use

How can I reduce my risk of heart disease?

To reduce your chances of getting heart disease, it’s important to do the following:

• Know your blood pressure. Having uncontrolled blood pressure can result in heart disease. High blood pressure has no symptoms so it’s important to have your blood pressure checked regularly.
• Talk to your health care provider about whether you should be tested for diabetes. Having diabetes raises your risk of heart disease.
• Quit smoking. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, learn ways for you to know how to quit!
• Discuss checking your cholesterol and triglyceride levels with your health care provider.
• Make healthy food. Having overweight or obesity raises your risk of heart disease.
• Limit alcohol intake to one drink a day.
• Lower your stress level and find healthy ways to cope with stress.

“The human heart pumps blood to every part of your body. The heart is our engine to the body.

Your heart is made up of four chambers, two on the right and two on the left. These are like the rooms of your house.

The top two chambers are called the left and right atrium and the bottom two are called the left and right ventricles.

They are divided by a thin wall called the septum.

There are four heart valves, which act like doors between the chambers of the heart. They open and close as your heart pumps.

The valves only open one way. This stops blood flowing in the wrong direction between the chambers of your heart.

Your conduction system sends the electrical signals which trigger the heart to pump blood around the body, and to and from the lungs.

Blood which has used all its oxygen is returned to the right side of the heart, via large veins called the inferior and superior vena cava. From there it is pumped to the lungs, via the pulmonary artery.

Once the blood has received oxygen from the lungs, it travels through the pulmonary veins into the left side of the heart. From here it is pumped back out around the body, via the aorta.”

Heart Foundation (https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/your-heart/how-the-heart-works)

The heart is like the engine to a car but for us it’s the “pump” for the human body; without the engine the car won’t run and without the pump we won’t live. The normal size of the heart is about the size of your fist, maybe a little bigger. It pumps blood continuously through your entire circulatory system.

The heart consists of four chambers, 2 on the top & 2 on the bottom. The two on the top are called at atriums the two on the bottom are called ventricles larger than the top ones.

The right side only pumps high carbon dioxide levels of blood, after all the oxygen was used by the tissues and returns to the heart in the right upper chamber and leaves to the lung from the right lower chamber. From the lungs it than goes to the left side of the heart now, which is a very short distance as opposed to where the left side pumps the blood.

The L side of the heart pumps blood down to the feet, up to the brain and all tissues in between with high oxygen levels of blood. This is why the L side of the heart does more work than the R side since the blood leaving the L side has a longer distance in distributing oxygen. The heart pumps the blood with high oxygen blood levels to reach all your tissues and cells, going to the feet, brain, and to all other tissues in between returning home again to the right side of the heart (first into the Rt upper chamber) to get sent to the lungs again for more oxygen. This is why the muscle on the L side of the heart is larger than the right, it works harder.

Every time your heart beats (the sound we call lub dub) the organ is sending out a cardiac output of blood either to the lungs for more oxygen that comes from the right side of the heart or to the body tissues through the aorta to give oxygenated blood to your tissues and cells coming from the left side of the heart. This is the mechanics of how the heart works in our body normally.

Let’s see what can occur if the heart doesn’t function properly.

If your heart is not pumping out a sufficient amount in your cardiac output to either the lungs (from rt. Side) or to the tissues (from the lt. side) than it tries to work harder where it does ok at first but over time weakens. As this weak heart struggles to pump blood the muscle fibers of the heart stretch. Over time, this stretching leaves the heart with larger, weaker chambers. The heart enlarges (called cardiomegaly). If this continues to go on this would effect the R or L sided of the heart causing back up fluid going into heart failure.

When this happens, blood that should be pumped out of the heart backs up in the lungs (L sided failure) or in the tissues (R sided failure). The side the failure is on doesn’t allow proper filling of the chambers on that side and back up happens going backwards with fluid build up to the circulatory system, in which hepatomegaly or liver enlargement and systemic edema are the main symptoms. In many instances, both sides of the heart are involved if this goes on since it will effect the other side.

Remember the Left side of the heart is receiving oxygenated blood flow from the lungs but if the chanbers on the left side are enlarged stretched out muscle the blood flow goes backward to the lungs.  So L side sided failure blood flow goes backwards to the lungs.

The R side of the heart gets blood that is coming back to the heart where the oxygen was used up from the oxygenated cells that were sent from the L side first but now returning with more carbon dioxide blood to the right side of the heart and if the right side of the heart is enlarged, stretched out muscle the blood that is returning to the R side will first back up in the veins which can expand to hold extra blood but at some point dump the extra fluids in your tissues (This is edema in feet due to gravity=swelling in the feet and ankles and up the legs as it gets worse).

On the L or R side of the heart the ending line problem that occurs is this is all due to overloading of the blood that goes backwards and not filling up properly in the upper and lower chambers of the heart to make a good cardiac output of blood and in time the fluid backs up (bad pumping=backup of blood=fluid overload in the lungs (pulmonary congestion) to fluid staying in the skin (first the lower extremities due to gravity=feet which we call edema working its way up the legs.).

This condition in time with no treatment will go into congestive heart failure (CHF) to the other side of the heart if not controlled; where both sides end up overloading and now both R and L sided failure occur. Know CHF can range from mild to severe. Nearly 5 million Americans are currently living with congestive heart failure (CHF).  Approximately 550,000 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. There is 670,000 cases are diagnosed with this every year and is the leading cause of hospitalization in people over 65 y/o.

Causes of CHF are: heart attack, CAD (coronary artery disease), cardiomyopathy, conditions that overwork the heart like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity (These diseases can be completely preventable or at least well controlled).

There is many of us in this world with knowing how our activity/exercise, eating, and habits could be better for health but do little action if any on our own to change it, which is a large part for certain diseases being so high in America (diabetes, stroke, cardiac diseases=high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis to CHF and more).

If people were more healthier and more active regarding these diseases alone it would decrease in population creating a positive impact on how our health system with insurance presently (a disaster) with our economy for many could get better. A healthy heart can pump to all parts of the body in a few seconds which is good cardiac output from the organ but when it gets hard for the heart to keep up with its regular routine it first compensates to eventually it decompensates causing ischemia (lack of oxygen to the heart tissue). It’s like any tissue in the body, lack of oxygen=lack of nutrients to the body tissue=STARVATION and with lack of oxygen will come PAIN eventually to death if not treated. Take the heart, if it isn’t getting enough oxygen it can go into angina. That is reversible since it is heart pain due to not enough oxygen to the heart tissue=no damage but if left untreated what will occur is a heart attack=myocardial infarction (MI) and is permanent damage because scarring to the heart tissue takes place. Let’s understand what the heart can develop over time with an unhealthy heart due to bad health habits. If you are eating too much for too long foods high in sodium your vessels will narrow in size. By allowing this you increase the pressure in the vessels that increases your blood pressure called hypertension.

If you are also inactive you are at risk of obesity which puts stress on the heart and in time causing high B/P. Constantly be in a high B/P and this could cause the vessel to rupture (at the heart=possible heart attack, at the brain=possible stroke, also called CVA with both on high occurrences in our population of the US.). With bad habits (especially poor diet, inactive, and smoking) you can cause over time atherosclerosis=a blockage in the artery with the resolution surgery (from a cardiac catheterization up your groin or having difficulty in the arm to the heart where an angiogram to an angioplasty with possibly a stent is performed or if the blockage to blockages is so bad a CABG=coronary artery bypass=a 6hr plus operation where diversion of a vein from your leg (donor graft site) around the blockage is done. Smoking can lead to this but it also can cause your vessels to become brittle=arteriosclerosis.

Healthy Habits would impact a positive result for all people who have had this diagnosis before but most important be a great PREVENTATIVE measure for people not diagnosed with cardiac disease.

There are 4 things you have no control over heredity, age, sex, and race but healthy habits are sure to benefit you by keeping the odds down of you inheriting, help your age factor, and race a lot can be associated with eating cultural habits.

If you make the decision to live a life that’s healthy for your heart through proper eating, doing healthy habits and doing some exercise or activity with balancing rest in your busy schedule and would like direction or want to expand your diet/exercise/healthy habits then you came to the right blog to start in the right direction. You make all the choices in your life at 21 y/o or older. Wouldn’t you want less heart disease or obesity or diabetes for yourself and for others throughout the nation including the future generations?

If you like what you see spread the good cheer. Let’s build a stronger foundation regarding HEALTH in America. So start eating a good heart healthy diet usually with still treating yourself at times throughout the year including daily or tri-weekly or bi-weekly exercise and balancing it with rest . At least try to do stretching exercises daily. Also try to keep stress to a minimum which work out helps you decrease.

Recommended is to check with your doctor about your diet and exercise changes especially if you have a disease or illness that the MD can direct you best in changes with knowing about your health history.

“It’s February – American Heart Month – a time when the nation spotlights heart disease, the No. 1 killer of Americans.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, among the millions of people in the country who’d had heart attacks, issued the first proclamation in 1964. Since then, U.S. presidents have annually declared February American Heart Month.

Throughout the month, the American Heart Association’s “Heart to Heart: Why Losing One Woman Is Too Many” campaign will raise awareness about how 1 in 3 women are diagnosed with heart disease annually.

The first Friday of American Heart Month, Feb. 5, is also National Wear Red Day as part of the AHA’s Go Red for Women initiative. Coast to coast, landmarks, news anchors and neighborhoods go red to raise awareness and support for the fight against heart disease. For more information on the event and other activities during the month, visit goredforwomen.org.

This year, the federally designated event is even more important due to the impact of the coronavirus on the public’s heart health, including potential harmful effects on the heart and vascular system, according to recent research.”

American Heart Association (https://www.heart.org/en/around-the-aha/february-is-american-heart-month)

          
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. Every year, 1 in 4 deaths are caused by heart disease. The good news? Heart disease can often be prevented when people make healthy choices and manage their health conditions.

Communities, health professionals, and families can work together to create opportunities for people to make healthier choices.  February is American Heart Month, a time when all people—especially women—are encouraged to focus on their cardiovascular health. This Heart Month, the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) is encouraging women to listen to their hearts and speak up for their health.

Make a difference in your community: Spread the word about strategies for preventing heart disease and encourage people to live heart healthy lives.

How can American Heart Month make a difference?  We can use this month to raise awareness about heart disease and how people can prevent it — both at home and in the community.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Encourage families to make small changes, like using spices to season their food instead of salt.  • Motivate teachers and administrators to make physical activity a part of the school. This can help students start good habits early.

• Ask doctors and nurses to be leaders in their communities by speaking out about ways to prevent heart disease.  How can you help spread the word?  We’ve made it easier for you to make a difference. This toolkit is full of ideas to help you take action today. For example:  Add information about living a heart healthy lifestyle to your newsletter. • Tweet about American Heart Month. • Host a community event where families can be active while learning about local health resources.

Take action: Be the cure! Join the American Heart Association’s national movement in support of healthier communities and healthier lives.

“Folate (vitamin B-9) is important in red blood cell formation and for healthy cell growth and function. The nutrient is crucial during early pregnancy to reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spine. Folate is found mainly in dark green leafy vegetables, beans, peas and nuts.

Folate is found mainly in dark green leafy vegetables, beans, peas and nuts. Fruits rich in folate include oranges, lemons, bananas, melons and strawberries. The synthetic form of folate is folic acid. It’s in an essential component of prenatal vitamins and is in many fortified foods such as cereals and pastas.

A diet lacking foods rich in folate or folic acid can lead to a folate deficiency. Folate deficiency can also occur in people who have conditions, such as celiac disease, that prevent the small intestine from absorbing nutrients from foods (malabsorption syndromes).

The recommended daily amount of folate for adults is 400 micrograms (mcg). Adult women who are planning pregnancy or could become pregnant should be advised to get 400 to 1,000 mcg of folic acid a day.”

National Folic Acid Awareness Month, which was in the beginning of this month! January 10–16, 2016, was National Folic Acid Awareness Week but for those who may have missed the info on it don’t fret striveforgoodhealth is covering Folic acid today and its especially important to women who might become pregnant, as it can help prevent serious birth defects of the brain, neck and spine. Recent studies suggest that it can also help lower the risk of neural tube defects and orofacial clefts (cleft lip and palate). Notably, folic acid has been shown to lower the risk of anencephaly (the absence of a large part of the brain and skull) and spina bifida (an opening in the spinal column) by 50 to 70%.

Much of the baby’s growth and development happens very early in pregnancy, even before most women know they’re pregnant. Experts estimate that women need to start taking folic acid at least one month before they become pregnant for it to prevent birth defects, so it’s important to make folic acid-enriched foods and vitamins a part of your daily routine.

The benefits aren’t limited to your baby: your body needs folic acid, too. The acid helps to create healthy new cells in the body, from hair to nails to skin and blood cells. Without it, blood cells become unstable, and the body is susceptible to disease. The vitamin also protects your liver, allowing it to continue purifying your body. Folic acid is a water-soluble vitamin that your body cannot store, so it should be taken every day to replenish your body’s supply.

Many foods are now being fortified with more folic acid, such as grains, pastas and breakfast cereals. Check the nutritional facts label on your favorite products to see how much they contain. Many cereals now contain as much as 100% of the recommended daily value. Additionally, prenatal vitamins typically contain folic acid. If you’re not yet taking a prenatal vitamin, you can also look for multivitamins with added acid, or buy folic acid pills.

Birth defects are common, costly, and critical conditions that affect one in every 33 U.S. newborns annually. Women can reduce their risk of having a baby born with a birth defect by making healthy choices and adopting healthy habits before and during pregnancy.

Health care providers can encourage parents-to-be to make a PACT for birth defects prevention by taking the following steps: Planning ahead for pregnancy; Avoiding harmful substances like chemicals in the home or workplace (2); Choosing a healthy lifestyle, including eating a healthy diet (3); and Talking with their health care provider before and during pregnancy, particularly about medication use.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages health care providers to become active participants in National Birth Defects Prevention Month by joining the nationwide effort to raise awareness of birth defects, their causes, and their impact.

CDC urges all women of childbearing age who can become pregnant to get 400 µg of folic acid every day to help reduce the risk for neural tube defects. Health care providers should encourage women of childbearing age to consume folic acid in fortified foods or supplements, or a combination of the two, in addition to a diet rich in folatCDC urges all women of childbearing age who can become pregnant to get 400 µg of folic acid every day to help reduce the risk for neural tube defects. Health care providers should encourage women of childbearing age to consume folic acid in fortified foods or supplements, or a combination of the two, in addition to a diet rich in folate.

An easy way to be sure you’re getting enough folic acid is to take a daily multivitamin with folic acid in it. Most multivitamins have all the folic acid you need. If you get an upset stomach from taking a multivitamin, try taking it with meals or just before bed. If you have trouble taking pills, you can try a multivitamin that is gummy or chewable. Also be sure to take it with a full glass of water.  This medication we said earlier is a water soluble and for it to do its optimal level of action it needs water.  Just like Colace that is a water soluble it needs to be taken also with water for it to do its function in making the stool softer; if not taken with water it will do very little in resolving constipation.  So don’t forget water.

Folic acid has been added to foods such as enriched breads, pastas, rice and cereals. Check the Nutrition Facts label on the food packaging. A serving of some cereals has 100% of the folic acid that you need each day.

In addition to getting 400 mcg of folic acid from supplements and fortified foods, you can eat a diet rich in folate. You can get food folate from beans, peas and lentils, oranges and orange juice, asparagus and broccoli, and dark leafy green vegetables such as spinach, and mustard greens.

Nutritional habits

Although all enriched cereals and grain products in the U.S. are fortified with the B-vitamin folic acid, only one-third of U.S. women of childbearing age consume the recommended amount from their diet. Taking a multivitamin with folic acid every day is a key way that women can get the recommended amount of 400 mcg.

Remember be prepared before pregnancy

Women need folic acid, even if not planning to become pregnant, since 50% of all pregnancies are unplanned. Taking folic acid before pregnancy reduces the risk of birth defects of the brain and spine, called neural tube defects (NTDs), by up to 70%.

Message to the Hispanic community

Hispanic babies are 1.5 to 2 times more likely than others in the U.S. to be born with an NTD. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that Latinas in the U.S. consume the least amount of folic acid and have the least knowledge about folic acid among racial or ethnic groups.

“Influenza (flu) and the common cold are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. Flu is caused by influenza viruses only, whereas the common cold can be caused by a number of different viruses, including rhinoviruses, parainfluenza, and seasonal coronaviruses.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/coldflu.htm)

“Pacemakers are devices that can be placed in your body, usually by surgery, to support the electrical system in your heart. They can stabilize abnormal heart rhythms and prevent problems that can disrupt or endanger your life.  Your heart has its own electrical system, which tells your heart’s chambers when it’s their turn to squeeze. When your heart’s electrical system malfunctions, your heart’s chambers may squeeze in the wrong order or squeeze too weakly to provide enough blood to your body. Pacemakers use electrical impulses to correct these kinds of malfunctions. 

While it depends on the specific model of pacemaker and how often it has to assist your heart, pacemakers are now available that can last as long as 10 or 15 years. Your healthcare provider can tell you the average lifespan of the device you’ll receive, and will also schedule follow-up appointments to check your pacemaker’s battery level. It’s also usually a simpler process to replace a pacemaker battery than it was to implant the device in the first place.”

Cleveland Clinic