Creative Eldering – May 2020 – Your Heart

Your heart is your hero or your heroine.  Even when you do not give your heart much consideration and fail to provide it with the rest and relaxation that it requires (balanced with well-tolerated exercise), it keeps on performing.  Some people routinely over stimulate their hearts with caffeine, sugar, or even stimulant drugs and expect an uninterrupted continuation of perfect heart performance!

Think of your heart as your engine that keeps you running.  Even when you sleep your heart is idling and using fuel.

Please take a moment and become acquainted with your heart.  Close your left hand, making a fist and set your knuckles right against the middle of your breastbone or sternum.  Your hand is mimicking the size and shape of your heart and is situated roughly in the position of your heart. The average adult heart weighs about 8 to 10 ounces (226 to 283 grams).

Your heart consistently beats, often 60 to 80 beats per minute, using oxygen, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, B vitamins protein and various other nutrients to nourish its strong striated muscle fibers.  The constant movement of this muscle tissue causes wear and tear, also termed tissue degradation, requiring constant replenishment of these nutrients.

You may be amazed to learn that your heart, a highly efficient pump, systematically moves your blood through approximately 60,000 miles (96,560 kilometers) of vascular system, your arteries and veins of various sizes and even your microscopic capillaries.  This is to supply every cell in your body with fresh blood that is loaded up with oxygen and nutrients. The pumping of your heart also helps move your metabolic waste products into the veins so that they can be filtered and processed by your liver and kidneys and then ultimately eliminated through your intestinal system and your kidneys.

Your heart is a very deep maroon color, verging on purple because it is highly vascularized and served by the several coronary arteries covering its surface.  These coronary arteries divide into numerous branches that then penetrate the depth of the heart’ s muscle tissue to assure bringing a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients to the cells of your heart muscle.

If you suffer angina, sharp pain in the area of your heart, it is typically because the heart muscle did not receive enough oxygen and nutrients to continue its nonstop motion.  Angina is a sign that your heart is overworked in relation to its nutrient supply. For some people, nutritional supplementation with high-quality magnesium can make all the difference in the world for their angina.  If you sometimes experience angina, consult a nutritionist or a natural healthcare practitioner who is familiar with high-quality nutrient supplementation.

 A more serious example is a “heart attack”, often called a myocardial infarction or a coronary artery occlusion.  When this happens, a coronary artery is narrowed, blocked, or the muscular lining of the artery has gone into spasm, often from stress or lack of oxygen.  If the blood supply to an area of muscle tissue served by that artery is diminished or blocked for a certain amount of time, the muscle tissue becomes damaged.  Some heart cells in that area may die since they were starved of oxygen and nutrients longer than they could tolerate.

Your heart is delicate and sensitive, and its proper function critically depends on an uninterrupted supply of oxygen and other necessary nutrients.

Inflammation is a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease (as well as most body dysfunctions). Inflammation is best addressed by a nutritional approach including adequate hydration, and a clean and unadulterated plant-based diet.  Avoiding vegetable oils, sodas, flour products, and processed foods is one of the best ways to prevent inflammation and to promote a healthy heart. You may also wish to search the archives of this publication for my article titled Taking The Inflammation Bull By The Horns published in July 2019.  Another user-friendly resource for learning about inflammation and stopping it will be found in Chapter 7 of my book, YOUR BODY CAN TALK, second edition.  This entire chapter is devoted to inflammation.

Now that you have learned more about your heart and how to treat it well, I hope that you and your heart enjoy good health and happiness.

Article written by Susan L. Levy, D. C.
Author of “Your Body Can Talk, 2nd Edition” and “Your Aging Body Can Talk”
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