'Although most people think of heart disease as a lightning bolt that strikes suddenly in old age, heart disease is more like death by a thousand cuts.' Here's what we can do about it.
This indefatigable organ continuously fuels the thousands of miles of blood vessels in your body, responds with unparalleled precision to the challenges of your environment, and orchestrates the passage of nutrient-rich blood through your lungs, brain, and bodily tissues with skills exceeding any maestro.
. The purpose behind these"heart-culean" feats? To provide you with the biological power to survive and potentially even thrive. To move and make a difference. To connect with others and create a meaningful journey. Your heart toils tirelessly to give you life and the possibility of a great life. Whatever your heart lacks aesthetically, it more than makes up for in versatility. Like a superhero living in your chest, your heart is part Mighty Mouse , part Einstein , and part The Little Engine That Could . For the typical person, their heart will perform ceaselessly for some 80 years—during which time their heart will beat some 2.5 billion times and produce enough energy to drive a pickup truck to the moon —until finally even the tenacity and adaptability of this miraculous muscle will meet its match. We all know that death is the inevitable result when our heart becomes too weak or diseased to function. For far too many, more than from any other cause, heart disease is how their life story ends. According to the CDC, for instance, a staggering 1,390,000 deaths in the U.S. were attributed to heart disease just during 2020-2021 . Across a dozen presidential administrations, multiple financial crises, pandemics, cold wars, and enormous health and technology advancements, heart disease was unwavering. It has remained the leading cause of death in the U.S. for more than 70 consecutive years.Thankfully, disability and death from heart disease don't have to be the end of your story or mine. We can rewrite the script of this disease and enjoy a more dynamic life. However, doing so will require that we shatter prevailing myths about heart disease, apply newfound knowledge, and commit to making changes in our habits and lifestyles. Here are four of the arguably most harmful myths many of us have learned about heart disease and the evidence-based reality on each point.Reality : Heart disease is a lifelong disease. Signs of heart disease are increasingly measurable even among adolescents, common by middle age, and nearly universal among the elderlySource: Thomas RutledgeReality: Heart disease discriminates by neither sex nor. Although men do experience a higher incidence of heart disease than women during youth and early adulthood, heart disease differences between men and women collapse by middle age. Among U.S. women , most don't know that heart disease is 8-10 times more deadly than breast cancer3. Perception: Heart disease is caused mostly by genetic factors and family history, making it out of our personal control. Treatment for heart disease has to come from our doctors. Reality: For the typical person, research indicates that up to 90 percent of their heart disease risk is explained by modifiable behavioral and psychosocial factors. Although heart disease is primarily due to genetic factors in rare cases, for the rest of us, heart disease is a disease of our behavior, emotions, and environment. When doctors"treat" heart disease and heart disease risk factors, they are usually treating the damage caused by our own lifestyles.
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