February is Heart Month. The month is almost over but we are still recovering from the chocolates and dinners we had for Christmas, New Year’s parties and Valentine’s Day. Wow… isn’t that something? Who decides on all these occasions where you eat, drink and be merry? That person is a genius.
We got to have fun to stay healthy. As long as our drinking and eating is within reasonable limits. What is reasonable depends on what common sense dictates, what science says and what your heart says.
Your heart has to be healthy to give you good advice. OK, if you have a bad heart then that tells you something as well. Also remember, your heart muscle is the hardest working muscle in the body. It pumps out two fluid ounces – sixty milliliters – of blood at every heartbeat. Every day, the heart pumps at least 2,500 gallons or 9,4500 litres of blood. The heart has the ability to beat over three billion times in a person’s life. That is one more reason to keep the heart healthy and strong.
In spite of all the insults we inflict on our indispensable heart, it continues to take care of us as long as it can. It is relentless in its function. The heart has to be strong for it to pump blood forcefully to all parts of our body – our brain, our fingertips and our toes are miles apart… so to speak. But the blood still gets there most of the time.
Two elements will predict your heath in 2015 and beyond: what you do for yourself and what fate does for you. We have no control over the later but we can do something over things we have control.
You can control what you eat. You can control how much exercise you do. You can control your weight (not so easy, right?). You can control how much alcohol you drink and whether you are going to smoke.
All these subjects are covered in my easy to read book (Dr. B’s Eight Steps to Wellness). Regular physical activity is a very important component in our fight to keep our heart healthy, blood pressure low and prevent stroke. But don’t over do it if you are not in a good shape. About five per cent of the deaths occur after heavy exertion such as shoveling snow, recreational jogging or sexual activity. In U.S. this accounts for 25,000 deaths a year. Similar statistics are reported from Canada and Europe.
I thought death during sexual activity occurs only in the movies… just kidding. If you are not fit then be careful.
There are three main risk factors that are associated with complications during exercise: age, presence of heart disease, and intensity of exercise. If you exercise regularly then you should be pretty safe. But if you are a new starter (after reading this column) then better check with your doctor and start slowly. As they say, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Eat, drink and be merry… but be heart smart.
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