Although not always deadly, heart attacks and cardiac arrest are always serious and damaging. The American Heart Association has declared it advisable for young men to start taking preventative measures against heart disease when as young as 20. Thinking that heart attacks and cardiac arrest are things that only happen to old people is a mistake.
Heart Attack and Cardiac Arrest Statistics
Men in the 45 to 54 range can claim heart disease their number one enemy. Only motor vehicle accidents rate before heart attacks and cardiac arrests as the primary killer for the younger populations. Cardiovascular disease kills one out of every three men today.
The two terms, heart attack and cardiac arrest, seem to be interchangeable to the lay person but they are two very different conditions. What happens during and after each one is different although preventative measures are the same.
Understanding Heart Attacks and Cardiac Arrest
Myocardial infarction is a heart attack by another name. That complicated term is used more often by physicians than the average person, but it is the same thing. To understand a heart attack, it is important to know that the heart is a biological pump that keeps blood circulating through the entire body. The energy supply for this pump is blood containing the oxygen and other nourishing elements it needs.
Coronary arteries, the major blood veins feeding the heart, are where heart attacks begin. The arteries can get choked up with fats, plaque and clotted blood as a result of diet and lack of exercise over the course of a lifetime. If an artery becomes completely clogged the blood flow to the heart is cut off, cells begin dying and the heart stops. This is a heart attack.
A cardiac arrest is an electrical problem. A group of cells in the right atrium of the heart generate electrical signals that trigger the heart to contract in a regular rhythm. The four chambers of the heart work together based on that triggering spark from the right atrium. When that spark becomes irregular, the pumping process breaks down and the heart can stop working. This is a cardiac arrest.
Both heart attacks and cardiac arrests damage the heart and leave it weakened. Stents can be placed to keep coronary arteries open and pacemakers implanted to keep the beat steady but it is far better to take preventative measures to avoid the experience. Eating wisely and exercising regularly are effective weapons for fending off these two enemies of man.
More from this Author:
The Four Phases of Alzheimer's Disease
References:
WebMD
Emedicine.net
 |
