Cardiovascular System

The heart, blood vessels, and blood comprise your cardiovascular system. Blood (shown in red) moving from heart delivers oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body. On the return trip, the blood (shown in blue) picks up waste products so that your body can get rid of them.

Your heart is a muscle about the size of a clenched fist. It contracts and relaxes about 70 times a minute at rest (more if you are exercising), beats about 30,000,000 times a year, and pumps about 4,000 gallons of blood daily through its chambers to all parts of the body. Your blood travels through a rubbery collection of big and small vessels. If strung together end to end, they can stretch 60,000 miles (enough to circle the globe 2 1/2 times)!

As you inhale, air is sent down to your lungs. Blood is pumped from the heart through the pulmonary artery to your lungs where carbon dioxide is removed from it and oxygen is mixed in with it. The oxygenated blood is carried back to the heart through the pulmonary vein. The arteries carry blood away from your heart under high pressure to smaller and smaller branched tubes called capillaries. This delivers oxygen to all the cells in your body including bones, skin, and all organs. Veins bring oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart.

Your blood is mostly comprised of a colorless liquid called plasma. Red blood cells (which give blood its red appearance) deliver oxygen to cells and carry back waste gases in exchange. White blood cells attack and kill germs and Platelets cells help your body repair itself after injury.

Your cardiovascular system is a beautiful symphony which sustains your life. Often it is taken for granted and little is done to ensure its long-term performance. Lack of preventive care will transform your cardiovascular system into a time bomb.

Cardiovascular Disorders

In 2004, cardiovascular diseases claimed 869,724 lives in the United States (36.3% of all deaths). 148,000 lives belonged to Americans under 65. According to 2005 estimates from the American Heart Association, 80,700,000 people in the United States have one or more forms of cardiovascular disease:

1) High Blood Pressure - 73,000,000

High blood pressure puts added force against the artery walls which overtime damages the arteries making them more vulnerable to the narrowing and plaque build up associated with atherosclerosis.

2) Coronary Heart Disease (caused by atherosclerosis, the narrowing of the coronary arteries due to fatty buildups of plaque which blocks the flow of blood to heart muscle thus depriving the heart of oxygen. It is likely to cause Chest Pain and / or Heart Attack) - 16,000,000

Myocardial Infraction (acute heart attack occurs when a clot or spasm blocks an already narrowed coronary artery, restricting oxygen to a portion of heart muscle resulting in permanent injury) - 8,100,000

Angina Pectoris (chest pain or discomfort caused by reduced blood supply to the heart muscle) - 9,100,000

An estimated 1,200,000 Americans will have a new or recurrent coronary attack this year, and about 310,000 will die as a result.

3) Stroke (occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked or bursts) - 5,800,000

Without blood and the oxygen it carries, part of the brain starts to die and the part of the body controlled by the damaged area of the brain won't work properly.

Brain damage can begin within minutes of a stroke.

4) Heart Failure (the heart does not pump as well as it should) - 5,300,000

About 550,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure each year.

It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65.

5) Arrhythmia (Abnormal Heart Rhythm) - more than 850,000 Americans are hospitalized for an Arrhythmia each year. It is caused by many factors including:

Coronary Heart Disease

Electrolyte imbalance in your blood (such as sodium or potassium)

Changes in your heart muscle

Injury from a heart attack

Healing process after heart surgery

6) Aortic Aneurysm (bulge in a section of the aorta which can burst causing serious bleeding which can lead to death within minutes) - approximately 176,000 Americans are affected annually leading to 15,000 deaths per year.

Medical problems such as high blood pressure and atherosclerosis weakening artery walls as well as wear and tear that occurs with aging can result in outward bulging of the aortic wall.

The slower flow of blood in the bulging area can cause clots to form. If a blood clots breaks off in the chest area, it can travel to the brain and cause a stroke. If blood clots break off in the belly area, they can block blood flow to the belly or legs.