Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare - (Page 34)

Your heart works hard for T 34 you every minute of every day. Help it function at its best hink you have a busy day? Consider the day your heart is having. While responding to your moment-by-moment demands, it continuously pumps oxygen and nutrientinfused blood to every one of your 75 trillion cells. But its job has just begun. Exchanging oxygen and nutrients for waste products, it pumps the blood back through miles of vessels. Finally, it sends the waste to the lungs for exhalation—all in less than a minute. Talk about multitasking! Your heart supplies oxygen, feeds you and takes out the trash—and it does it every minute of every day. By the end of 24 hours, it will have beat 100,000 times and pumped 6,000 quarts of blood. Read on for tips to make life easier for your heart. By Lynne L. HaLL Vim & Vigor • SUM M ER 2 011 Getting the day started isn’t tough on just you. It’s the most dangerous time of the day for your heart. “The first 45 minutes after rising is prime time for heart attacks,” says William Kraus, M.D., a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. There is a 30 percent increased risk of heart attacks between 6 and 8 a.m., he says. “When you wake up, you have a surge of the hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol, which causes a spike in heart rate and blood, which means your heart has to work harder.” These chemicals also increase the stickiness of blood platelets and the risk of plaque rupture, which can cause a heart attack, says Myrna Alexander Nickens, M.D., a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. Give your heart a break: Reduce your chances of a morning heart attack by controlling risk factors that foster plaque formation, such as obesity, hypertension and smoking. Rise and shine! illustrations by hal mayforth

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare
Contents
Community Message
When Stroke Strikes, Seconds Count
Rays of Hope Fight Cancer
Girl Talk
Say What?
Action Plan
Like This? Try That!
Being George Clooney
A Day in the Life of Your Heart
Unexpected Heroes
Get in Gear
A Real Lifesaver
A Real Lifesaver
Spotlight on Community Hospital
Spotlight on St. Catherine Hospital
Spotlight on St. Mary Medical Center
A Safer Hospital Stay

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2011 - Community Healthcare