February is National Heart Month and the British Heart Foundation has lots of useful advice and tips to share on keeping your heart healthy and fit for purpose…
How your heart works
The human heart works like a pump sending blood around your body to keep you alive.
Each day, your heart beats around 100,000 times. This continuously pumps about five litres (eight pints) of blood around your body through a network of blood vessels called your circulatory system. This blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to all parts of your body and carries away unwanted carbon dioxide and waste products.
Your heart and circulatory system work together to deliver blood to your organs so they can function.
What causes your heart and circulatory system to go wrong?
Problems with your heart and circulatory system, including heart attack, angina and stroke can occur when your arteries become narrowed. This is caused by a gradual build-up of fatty material (called atheroma) within the blood vessel walls. In time, your arteries may become so blocked that they cannot deliver enough blood to your heart or brain, which can lead to a heart attack, stroke and vascular dementia.
What can I do to protect my heart?
The good news is that there are lots of things you can do to protect your heart:
Get Active
You don’t need to run a marathon every week, simply increasing your activity in whatever way you can will help. The British Heart Foundation have information guides for everyone from exercising in your chair to table tennis, tai chi or walking football: https://bit.ly/2TWz4SJ
Nutrition
Find out about healthy eating, take a quiz, try a new recipe or get some healthy eating tips: https://bit.ly/2SYeNPm
For further information see the British Heart Foundation website: www.bhf.org.uk