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Elena keeps an eye on her husband Frank to make sure he is taking care of his heart. But, she was surprised at a recent medical appointment when Dr. Reyes asked about her own family's history of heart disease. When Dr. Reyes heard that Elena's mother had died at age 58 after a heart attack, she told Elena that she, too, should be following a heart-healthy lifestyle. She said older women, as well as older men, can have heart problems. So now, Elena and Frank are both taking steps toward heart health.
Your heart is a strong muscle that pumps blood to your body. A normal, healthy adult heart is about the size of your clenched fist. Just like an engine makes a car go, the heart keeps your body running. The heart has two sides, each with a top chamber (atrium) and a bottom chamber (ventricle). The right side pumps blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The left side receives blood rich with oxygen from the lungs and pumps it through arteries throughout the body. An electrical system in the heart controls the heart rate (heartbeat or pulse) and coordinates the contraction of the heart's top and bottom chambers.
People age 65 and older are much more likely than younger people to suffer a heart attack, to have a stroke, or to develop coronary heart disease (commonly called heart disease) and heart failure. Heart disease is also a major cause of disability, limiting the activity and eroding the quality of life of millions of older people.
Aging can cause changes in the heart and blood vessels. For example, as you get older, your heart can't beat as fast during physical activity or times of stress as it did when you were younger. However, the number of heartbeats per minute (heart rate) at rest does not change significantly with normal aging.
Changes that happen with age may increase a person's risk of heart disease. A major cause of heart disease is the buildup of fatty deposits in the walls of arteries over many years. The good news is there are things you can do to delay, lower, or possibly avoid or reverse your risk.
Look up the definitions of unfamiliar heart health terms in the Heart Health Glossary.The most common aging change is increased stiffness of the large arteries, called arteriosclerosis (ahr-teer-ee-o-skluh-roh-sis), or hardening of the arteries. This causes high blood pressure, or hypertension, which becomes more common as we age.
High blood pressure and other risk factors, including advancing age, increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis (ath-uh-roh-skluh-roh-sis). Because there are several modifiable risk factors for atherosclerosis, it is not necessarily a normal part of aging. Plaque builds up inside the walls of your arteries and, over time, hardens and narrows your arteries, which limits the flow of oxygen-rich blood to your organs and other parts of your body. Oxygen and blood nutrients are supplied to the heart muscle through the coronary arteries. Heart disease develops when plaque builds up in the coronary arteries, reducing blood flow to your heart muscle. Over time, the heart muscle can become weakened and/or damaged, resulting in heart failure. Heart damage can be caused by heart attacks, long-standing hypertension and diabetes, and chronic heavy alcohol use.
As you get older, it's important for you to have your blood pressure checked regularly, even if you are healthy. This is because aging changes in your arteries can lead to hypertension. You may feel fine but, if not treated, high blood pressure could lead to stroke and problems with your heart, eyes, brain, and kidneys. To manage high blood pressure, exercise, dietary changes, and reducing your salt intake can help, but as aging changes in the arteries often cause high blood pressure in older age, medication is often necessary. It is not uncommon to need more than one medication to control your blood pressure.
Age can cause other changes to the heart. For example:
Other factors, such as thyroid disease or chemotherapy, may also weaken the heart muscle. Things you can't control, like your family history, might increase your risk of heart disease. But, leading a heart-healthy lifestyle might help you avoid or delay serious illness.
Heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis (ath-uh-roh-skluh-roh-sis), which is the buildup of fatty deposits, or plaques, in the walls of the coronary arteries over many years. The coronary arteries surround the outside of the heart and supply blood nutrients and oxygen to the heart muscle. When plaque builds up inside the arteries, there is less space for blood to flow normally and deliver oxygen to the heart. If the flow of blood to your heart is reduced by plaque buildup or is blocked if a plaque suddenly ruptures, it can cause angina (chest pain or discomfort) or a heart attack. When the heart muscle does not get enough oxygen and blood nutrients, the heart muscle cells will die (heart attack) and weaken the heart, diminishing its ability to pump blood to the rest of the body.
Find out more about heart attacks.
Early heart disease often doesn't have symptoms or the symptoms may be barely noticeable. That's why regular checkups with your doctor are important.
Contact your doctor right away if you feel any chest pain, pressure, or discomfort. However, chest pain is a less common sign of heart disease as it progresses, so be aware of other symptoms. Tell your doctor if you have:
Problems with arrhythmia are much more common in older adults than younger people. Arrhythmia needs to be treated. See a doctor if you feel a fluttering in your chest or have the feeling that your heart is skipping a beat or beating too hard, especially if you are weaker than usual, dizzy, tired, or get short of breath when active.
If you have any signs of heart disease, your doctor may send you to a cardiologist, a doctor who specializes in the heart.
Your doctor will check your blood pressure and do a fasting blood test to check your cholesterol, a type of fatty substance that can contribute to plaques in your arteries. He or she might also do a blood test to check the levels of proteins that are markers of inflammation in the body and suggest you have an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG). This test looks at electrical activity in your heart. A chest x-ray will show whether your heart is enlarged or your lungs have fluid in them; both can be signs of heart failure. The doctor might do a blood test for brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), a hormone that increases in heart failure. If the cardiologist needs to determine your heart or valve function, he or she may order an echocardiogram, a painless test which uses sound waves to produce images of your heart in motion.
To learn more about heart disease, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
There are many steps you can take to keep your heart healthy.
Try to be more physically active.Talk with your doctor about the type of activities that would be best for you. If possible, aim to get at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week. Every day is best. It doesn't have to be done all at once.
Inertial drift soundtrack download free pc windows. Start by doing activities you enjoy—brisk walking, dancing, bowling, bicycling, or gardening, for example. Avoid spending hours every day sitting.
If you smoke, quit.Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Smoking adds to the damage to artery walls. It's never too late to get some benefit from quitting smoking. Quitting, even in later life, can lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer over time.
Follow a heart-healthy diet. Choose foods that are low in trans and saturated fats, added sugars, and salt. As we get older, we become more sensitive to salt, which can cause swelling in the legs and feet. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and foods high in fiber, like those made from whole grains. Get more information on healthy eating from NIA. You also can find information on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Patterns.
Keep a healthy weight. Balancing the calories you eat and drink with the calories burned by being physically active helps to maintain a healthy weight. Some ways you can maintain a healthy weight include limiting portion size and being physically active. Learn more about how to maintain a healthy weight from NIA.
Keep your diabetes, high blood pressure, and/or high cholesterol under control. Follow your doctor's advice to manage these conditions, and take medications as directed.
High blood cholesterol levels can lead to plaque buildup in your arteries. Your doctor can check the level of cholesterol in your blood with a blood test. You must be fasting overnight or for 8 hours before this blood test. This will tell you your overall or total cholesterol level as well as LDL ('bad' cholesterol), HDL ('healthy' cholesterol), and triglycerides (another type of fat in the blood that puts you at risk for heart problems).
Don't drink a lot of alcohol. Men should not have more than two drinks a day and women only one. One drink is equal to:
Manage stress. Learn how to manage stress, relax, and cope with problems to improve physical and emotional health. Consider activities such as a stress management program, meditation, physical activity, and talking things out with friends or family. To learn more about stress management techniques, visit the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
Ask your doctor questions to learn more about your risk for heart disease and what to do about it. Learn what you can do if you are at increased risk or already have a heart problem.
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
To learn more about making heart-healthy lifestyle changes, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Adults age 65 and older are more likely than younger people to suffer from cardiovascular disease, which is problems with the heart, blood vessels, or both. Aging can cause changes in the heart and blood vessels that may increase a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
To understand how aging is linked to cardiovascular disease so that we can ultimately develop cures for this group of diseases, we need to first understand what is happening in the healthy but aging heart and blood vessels. This understanding has advanced dramatically in the past 30 years.
Learn more about The Heart Truth®, a national heart disease awareness campaign for women from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Today, more than ever, scientists understand what causes your blood vessels and heart to age and how your aging cardiovascular system leads to cardiovascular disease. In addition, they have pinpointed risk factors that increase the odds a person will develop cardiovascular disease. They are learning much more about how physical activity, diet, and other lifestyle factors influence the 'rate of aging' in the healthy heart and arteries. The aging of other organ systems, including the muscles, kidneys, and lungs, also likely contributes to heart disease. Research is ongoing to unravel how these aging systems influence each other, which may reveal new targets for treatments.
In the future, interventions or treatments that slow accelerated aging of the heart and arteries in young and middle-aged people who seem to be healthy could prevent or delay the onset of heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular disorders in later life. Some interventions that we already know slow the rate of aging in the heart and arteries include healthy eating, exercise, reducing stress, and quitting smoking. The more we understand the changes that take place in cells and molecules during aging, for example, the closer we get to the possibility of designing drugs that target those changes. Gene therapies can also target specific cellular changes and could potentially be a way to intervene in the aging process. While waiting for these new therapies to be developed, you can still enjoy activities, like exercise and a healthy diet, that can benefit your heart.
Read about this topic in Spanish. Lea sobre este tema en español.
American Heart Association
800-242-8721 (toll-free)
inquiries@heart.org
www.heart.org
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
301-592-8573
nhlbiinfo@nhlbi.nih.gov
www.nhlbi.nih.gov
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
800-860-8747 (toll-free)
866-569-1162 (TTY/toll-free)
healthinfo@niddk.nih.gov
www.niddk.nih.gov
MedlinePlus
National Library of Medicine
www.medlineplus.gov
Smokefree60+
National Cancer Institute
877-448-7848
(877-44U-QUIT/toll-free)
cancergovstaff@mail.nih.gov
www.60plus.smokefree.gov
This content is provided by the NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA). NIA scientists and other experts review this content to ensure it is accurate and up to date.
Content reviewed: June 01, 2018
Heart (Italian: Cuore[ˈkwɔːre]) is a children's novel by the Italian author Edmondo De Amicis who was a novelist, journalist, short story writer, and poet. The novel is his best known work to this day, having been inspired by his own children Furio and Ugo who had been schoolboys at the time. It is set during the Italian unification, and includes several patriotic themes. It was issued by Treves on October 18, 1886, the first day of school in Italy, and rose to immediate success.
Through its investigation of social issues such as poverty, Heart shows the influence of left-wing ideologies on De Amicis' work (he was later to join the Italian Socialist Party). Because of this, the book remained influential (and the staple of many textbooks) in countries of the Eastern Bloc. On the other hand, the book's strong evocation of Italian nationalism and patriotism also made it very welcome in Fascist Italy.
The novel is written in a diary form as told by Enrico Bottini, an 11-year-old primary school student in Turin with an upper class background who is surrounded by classmates of working class origin. The entire chronological setting corresponds to the third-grade season of 1881-82 (Enrico says it has been four years since death of Victor Emmanuel II, king of Italy, and the succession by Umberto I, and also tells about the death of Giuseppe Garibaldi, which happened in 1882).
Enrico's parents and older sister Silvia interact with him as written in his diary. As well as his teacher who assigns him with homework that deals with several different stories of children throughout the Italian states who should be seen as role models – these stories are then given in the book as Enrico comes upon reading them. Every story revolves around a different moral value, the most prominent of which are helping those in need, having great love and respect for family and friends, and patriotism. These are called 'The Monthly Stories' and appear at the end of every school month.
The novel was translated into Chinese in the early 20th century (with the title '愛的教育' – literally The Education of Love) and became quite well known in East Asia. It was translated into Spanish with the title, Corazón: Diario de un niño meaning Heart: Diary of a Child. The book was very popular in Latin countries, such as Mexico, among young boys and girls in the 1960s and 1970s.[citation needed]
The novel was also extremely popular and influential in 1950s Israel, though at present it is considered rather old-fashioned and no longer well-known to the current generation of young Israelis.[citation needed]
In 1887, a sequel, called Testa (Head), was written by neurologist Paolo Mantegazza, Amicis' friend, which narrates the life of Enrico in his teens.
In 1962, Umberto Eco published Elogio di Franti (In Praise of Franti) viewing Franti, the 'bad boy' of the novel, as a figure of resistance against militarist and nationalist ideology.[1]
One of the two teenage characters in the film I Prefer the Sound of the Sea (2000) reads Cuore and has a job in a bookshop named Franti.
The book has been used as one of the inspirations for academic achievement in Mexico, having used the name of the author for one of the world schools of the International Baccalaureate called Instituto D´Amicis, located in the city of Puebla.
In 1948, it was made into a film, directed by Vittorio De Sica and Duilio Coletti.
One of the stories, 'From the Apennines to the Andes,' became the basis of the 1976 anime series 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother. The series consisted of 52 episodes and was broadcast in the World Masterpiece Theatre. The whole series was viewable in many different languages, and became popular all over the world. In conclusion to the series, a movie was released in 1980 that was later remade, also as a feature film, released in 1999.
Cuore itself was later adapted in its entirety by Nippon Animation, as the 26-episode series School of Love: Story of Heart (愛の学校 クオレ物語, Ai no Gakkō: Cuore Monogatari) in 1981. This series was also broadcast on Italian TV as Cuore. School of Love: Story of Heart was very popular in Iran for the generation born after the Iranian Revolution. The series name, which was broadcast in Iran several times, was changed to Students of Alp Mountains (ت).
In 1984, a television miniseries based on the novel was produced by RAI and directed by Luigi Comencini.
In 2009 Heart: Diary of a Child was created as an audiobook by Carlos Acosta in English and Spanish languages (see external links).
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