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12
the way a British ex-army man
described students taking part
in
a
three-and-a-half year study into teen-age
fitness levels. "We are seeing young
meo with the pulse rates of 60-year–
olds . . . Physical fitness tests at the
Scottish school revealed that 58 percent
of arrivals were 'below the acceptable
norm'"
(Birmingham Mail,
England,
July
11,
1968).
Frankly, we hope these facts frighten
you enough that you will do something
about your own health - for your fam–
ily's sake.
Authorities worldwide agree there are
eight basic ·factors involved in the spi–
raling coronary picture: high blood
pressure, cigarette smoking, physical
inactivity, increase in weight, nervous
stress, excess fat in the blood, dia–
betes and genetic factors. Three stand
out as prime offenders - improper diet,
lack of exercise and smoking. They are
all things which we personally can con–
trol with just a l ittle care.
Inside Your Chest
What causes a heart to break clown?
Why is it our heart seems to wear out
before the rest of our body? Does it
have a built-in obsolescence factor like
many of our manufactured products of
toda
y?
Just what goes on inside your
chest?
If
you aren't actually aware of any–
thing going on in your chest while you
read this, probably so much the better.
But that doesn't mean you are totally
safe from coronary attack.
Your heart is one of the most fantas–
tic pumps ever devised. It is about the
size of a man's fist and weighs less than
one pound. It performs an incredible
task with no complaint, providing, of
course, you give it a little care. In the
average lifetime, the human heart beats
two and a half billion times, resting only
between beats. It daily pushes 5,500
quarts of blood, weighing nearly six
tons, through more than 60,000 miles
of circulatory system.
No mechanical pump could handle
such a proportionate load without sev–
era! breakdowns. You can't afford the
risk of even one breakdown.
It
could
kill you.
The
PLAIN TRUTH
In a healthy circulatory system, the
lining of the coronary arteries is clean
and smooth. The flow of blood through
these arteries is even and unimpeded. In
an unhealthy system, the arterial walls
become rough and begin to thicken as a
result of the slow deposit of a fatty wax
known as cholesterol. The thickening
walls constrict the flow of blood much
the same as deposits of rust constrict
and then lessen the flow of water in a
pipe. Unlike a pipe, the healthy vessels
have an elastic quality which allows
them to expand slightly as pressure is
added. Loaded with deposits and nearly
clogged, the elastic quality disappears.
The problem then arises with a sud–
den increased demand for more oxygen.
The heart beats faster to supply the
oxygen-carrying blood, but the clogged
arteries restrict the flow. Pressure
mounts as the heart tries desperately to
force the needed blood through the
plugged system. Finally a weakened,
unresilient blood vessel or artery rup–
tures because of the pressure, and a
coronary results.
Approximately two out of seven
attacks result in death. Between thirty
and forty percent of the victims die
within the first six weeks of their attack.
An
estimated fifteen to twenty percent
die within the first hour, gasping out
their last breath where they fell on the
sidewalk, street or in the office.
Sobering? Yes. Now, what can you
do about it?
No one would deliberately choose to
drop over from a heart attack. With just
little extra care your heart should last
seventy or more years. What then con–
stitutes the proper care of your heart?
How do you go about taking care of it?
Should you lessen demands on it by
leading a more leisurely l ife and by less
physical exertion? What should you
do? What can you do?
First: STOP SMOKING!
"Puff, puff, puff that cigarette," the
song goes. "Puff, puff, puff it, till you
smoke yourself to death." The solution
isn't always easy. But then, neither is
dying.
Smoking has been shown, beyond any
reasonable doubt, by government-sup–
ported medica! studies, to aggravate and
March, 1970
accelerate heart disease through over–
stimulation of the sympathetic nervous
system. The self-induced stimulation of
smoking speeds the heart's metabolism,
which increases the demand for oxygen,
which in turn forces more pressure on
the circulatory system.
Nicotine reduces and restricts the
small collateral or detour vessels of the
body, including those on the surface of
the heart itself. These small vessels help
to carry vital life-giving blood to the
extremities and balance the load for the
whole system. Along with the restric–
tion of these auxiliary vessels, nicotine
enhances blood coagulation, forcing
your heart to work harder with more
pressure. Then when additional pressure
is applied through hypertension or
other stress, an overloaded system
frequently breaks clown. (For additional
information, write for our free booklet
Y
011
Can QUIT Smoki11g.)
Smoking one pack of cigarettes daily
increases the risk of a nonfatal heart
attack to twice that experienced by the
nonsmoker.
It
multiplies the risk of a
fatal attack by five times.
Coupled with the already proveo link
between smoking and cancer- is there
need to say more?
Second: CONTROL YOUR DIET
If
you are one of the millions who is
overweight, don't shrug off your condi–
tion. Don't excuse it as being glandular
in nature or a hereditary problem. Don't
blame it on something or someone else.
You are what you eat. And if you eat
more than you need, you are probably
too fat. And
if
you are too fat, you are
a .tirst-class candidate for a heart attack.
"There's much greater death from
cardiovascular disease - coronaries in
particular - amoog the overweight
than among those of normal weight,"
says Dr. Jean Mayer, special consultant
to President Nixon
in
food, nutrition
and health.
The American Heart Association
points out that the average American has
increased the fat content of his diet
from 25 percent in 1900 to more
than 40 percent today. The result is
related to the
FlVE HUNDRED SEVENTY
PERCENT
national increase in heart