What is this astonishing organ called the human heart? This organ which is the vital part of our being, without it our body will not function, what especially makes this organ so important that when mentioned in poetry, it warms us, but by mere mention of it by our doctors, alas! we are 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 the chest just to the left of the centre 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 the 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 through vein 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 form the air we breath in, while the left side then collect the oxygen-rich blood from the lung and pumps it to all the tissues and organs in need of oxygen.

There are four valves that prevent 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 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. 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 your heart disease click here.

Knowledge is power, so Learn and Live! Reprinting this article is allowed provided all references and acknowledgment to the author, the website, and the URL remains intact.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Miracle_Obi

Billy Joel, one of my favorite singer/songwriters when I was younger may not have realized he gave us a valuable clue that "working too hard can give us a heart attack, yak, yak, yak".

"The science has shown it! And, you guessed it, it is worse for women. In fact, women in corporate America have been shown to suffer from heart attacks at a rate 7x that of their non working girl friends. Why? It's the stress. But, how does stress do this?

Here's the catch. Men in the work force respond to stress with testosterone. Masculine energy (force) requires masculine hormones. Unfortunately, when women use lots of masculine energy and are under stress they are fueled by an increase in cortisol - the stress hormone. On a biochemical level, cortisol depletes our progesterone which in turn can lead to imbalances with our estrogen and testosterone as well. All of this can lead to the "stress" (apple shaped) belly with its ensuing risk of Diabetes and Heart Disease.

So what's a working women supposed to do??? Well, we can start by learning more about the amazing source of power that comes with femininity. Feminine forms of power have changed the world and, I have found more professional success and much less stress by tapping into these unique powers. Secondly, we can learn how to reboot or replenish ourselves.

Take a few deep breaths we tap into Serenity.
Simple yoga stretches during the day will release stress.
Support from our colleagues will also diffuse our stress.
Eat healthy foods and drink plenty of water.
Take an outdoor break or work out break during the day
Be certain that you take time to give yourself a break between producing results. (more on transition time and rituals later)
To a healthy working women at home or in the office!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lori_Finlay_Hamilton

News just in The Silent Killer strikes again. All around the world people are being attacked, and sometimes loose the battle to the The Silent Killer, Police in every country can not apprehend this curse to mankind, and are even being attacked themselves, the Military have no defense for this kiss of Death killer, Governments worldwide have tried to warn the people but most take little notice thinking it wont happen to me, bad move.

This growing problem is now classed as the 2nd cause of death affecting mankind. The killer can attack all age groups from the young to the not so young and of any gender, no one is safe no one is immune. The problem is that most people are unaware that they could be next on the killers list, could it be you? Can you protect yourself, your family and friends? Yes you can but first here is a sobering thought, this killer without warning has attacked and caused the demise of nearly 8 MILLION people last year 2008 worldwide and with each year that passes it is expected that this figure will increase unless we take personal responsibility to combat this enemy.

8 Million that's a staggering amount, and as you can see this is an epidemic which is Global, OK time to inform you what the heck I am talking about, if you have not already made a guess by now its Hypertension or normally called High Blood Pressure. Do you know what your blood pressure is? Well you should, knowing will save your life there is no doubt about it. Over a third of people do not know the have this condition, and suddenly they have a heart attack and are no longer with us.

I am willing to bet you know or should I say you knew someone who suddenly had a heart attack and passed over and they were not that old, normally there are no symptoms relating to High Blood Pressure that is why it's called The Silent Killer.

Some folks are medically aware that they have high blood pressure and are on medication which controls the situation, but and this is a big but, medication is expensive, in most case there are bad side effects to the drugs which are very unpleasant to say the least, also taking drugs is a life long treatment, no letting up or your previous condition could return, also Medication only treats the symptoms not the cause.

Is there another way to reduce high blood pressure? Fortunately there is and without the use of drugs period. I am the living proof of that statement, I used to have this life threatening condition but not any more and there's not a drug in sight and that's a fact. All that is needed is a small change to your life style which will reduce your High Blood Pressure and soon normalize it, if that aint good news I don't know what is.

Summing up this article
1. You have learned about the silent killer.
2. You now know this is a global problem.
3. You now know that Hypertension can affect all gender and ages.
4. You now know how many people world wide have been victims of high blood pressure in the last year.
5. You now know that you must have your blood pressure checked.
6. You now know possibly from your own experience that drugs can have side effects.
7. You now know there is an alternative and effective way to treat high blood pressure without the use of drugs.
8. You now know that if you don't act to protect yourself you may become yet another victim.
9. You now know where to get more valuable information.

My thanks to the publishers of this article because by the very act of them publishing same, they will have potentially contributed to saving many lives...Thank You.

If you have High Blood Pressure or just found out you have this condition check the link below for more information

Best wishes and healthy days ahead,

David Delaine,
Health Researcher.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Delaine