_{image source}

Hello Cebu Steemians! Did you know that February is a Philippine Heart Month? February may be the Love Month, but technically every day is a hearts day too! February was declared Philippine Heart Month with a Declaration No. 1096 signed on 9th of January, 1973, during the Marcos administration.

---

Did You Know?

_{image source}

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases is the leading number 1 cause of death in all over the world. This disease have killed 17.5 million people, which is 3 in every 10 deaths.

The Philippines ranked 161 out of 224 in terms of life expectancy. A data found that the life expectancy for men is 65.7 years, whilst a bit higher at 72.9 for women.

There are a variety of lethal diseases and health complications that could be significant to your health and reduce your life expectancy.

---

All There Is To Know About Your Heart

_{(A quick overview about the heart)}

---

_{image source}

What is a heart?

Your heart is a muscle and a little bit bigger than the size of your fist. The heart is located between the lungs, almost in the mid line of your chest.

What does the heart do?

With every beat of your heart, it pumps blood through the body's cardiovascular system. "Cardio" means heart while "vascular" means vessels, therefore, it means the blood vessels of your heart. These blood vessels help circulate blood into your circulatory system. Your blood is very essential because it carries oxygen that will be distributed to all the organs and tissues in your body and delivers carbon dioxide to your lungs.

Ever heard of "lub-dub"?

_{image source}

This is the sound that your heart makes, in other words, it's the sound of your heartbeat. When the heart valves opens and closes it creates a sound, which is in every heart beat a blood will be ejected and it flows through the heart travelling to your major heart valves and it goes to your organs in the body.

---

Key Points to Remember about Your Heart

• The heart is a muscle that pumps blood into the body's major tissues and organs. It is located between the lungs, almost in the middle of the chest based on the aforementioned statement above.
• The heart has both left and right side. Each side has an atrium that collects the blood as it returns to the heart and a ventricle that pumps blood out to your heart.
• It is the right side of your heart that sends blood into your lungs, where the blood receives oxygen. The left side of your heart pumps blood to the rest of the body's organs and tissues.

---

Leading Heart Ailments and their Causes

_{image source}

Below we will tackle the top 3 deadliest heart diseases and how susceptible you are:

1. Coronary Heart Disease

_{image source}

Coronary Heart Disease has been known as the “silent epidemic” by some in the medical/healthcare field, and is responsible for a total of 87,881 deaths in the Philippines each year, which equates to nearly 17% of all deaths annually. A person with coronary heart disease have a strong build-up of plaque inside the coronary arteries, blocking the blood from reaching the coronary arteries. This heart disease gets worst over time and can complicate into angina, heart attacks, heart failure, and arrhythmias.

Signs and Symptoms:

• Angina or chest pain. You may feel a painful pressure or chest tightness, it feels like someone put on his/her weight on your chest.
• Difficulty breathing or Shortness of breath.
• Heart attack.

Traditional Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease:

• Increase amount of LDL(low-density lipoprotein) and low in amounts of hdl(high-density lipoprotein).
• High blood pressure.
• Family history of heart diseases.
• Diabetes
• Smoking
• Being post-menopausal for women and being older than 45 for men.

2. Hypertension

_{image source}

Hypertension or it is simply referred to as high blood pressure, it is crucially hard to diagnose, but can lead to other serious diseases such as stroke and kidney disease. According to recent research by the World Health Organization, more than 14 million Filipinos suffer from hypertension. The Philippines comes in at number 11 in terms of the highest amount of deaths as a result of hypertension, providing the alarming need for Filipinos to make active modified lifestyle changes to lessen their risk of hypertension-related illnesses or death. If there's a prolonged elevation of blood pressure, it can be considered as a medical emergency if not adequately medicated.

Signs and Symptoms:

• Severe headaches
• Body weakness or fatigue.
• Sudden problems with vision
• Chest tightness or chest pain
• Arrhythmias or irrergular heartbeat.
• Hematuria or blood in urine.
• Pounding in your chest, neck or ears.

Traditional Risk Factors for Hypertension:

• The risk of increasing your blood pressure is going high as you get older at 45. High blood pressure is more prevalent for men, whilst, for women will more likely to develop after the age of 65.
• Family history of hypertension.
• Being overweight or obese. The more weight you put on, the more you need to supply oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and organs.
• Physically inactive. People who are not physically active are more prone to have higher heart rates.
• Smoking. Smoking or chewing tobacco immediately increases the blood pressure temporarily, but the chemicals that contain in tobacco can destroy the arterial linings of the heart.
• Excessive salt in your diet.
• Drinking too much alcohol.
• Stress

3. Stroke

_{image source}

A stroke occurs when the heart's blood supply to your brain is obstructed, which can cause your brain cells to die. It deprives the brain of its oxygen and essential nutrients and leads to permanent brain damage. There are two types of stroke: the ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic Stroke takes place as a result of a blocked within a blood vessel which supplies blood to the brain. Hemorrhagic stroke, on the other hand, happens when a weakened blood vessel bursts, this is common for uncontrolled hypertension(high blood pressure).

Signs and Symptoms:

• Sudden numbness or weakness in one side of the body such as the face, arm, or leg.
• Unexpected confusion.
• Trouble speaking or slurring of speech.
• Vision problems especially in one eye.
• Sudden trouble of walking.
• Feeling dizzy
• Loss of balance.
• Lack of body coordination.

Traditional Risk Factors for Stroke:

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure.
• High in cholesterol levels.
• Obsessive weight gain.
• Lack of physical activity.

---

Be Healthy and Love Your Heart

_{image souce}

Numerous initiatives and events have taken place for many years for the Heart Month's Celebration. The Philippine Department of Health, take for example, has been actively raising awareness for a healthier living up until now. In the year 2015, there's even a banner showing DOH's theme which is: "Mahalin mo ang puso mong nagmahal"(Love your Heart that loves you). This is a reminder from DOH to the people to love their loving hearts.

Here are the lists of lifestyle modification suggestions:

Eat Right and Eat Healthily

_{image source}

Can the food in your kitchen literally save your life? An increasing body of research recommends that what you eat and drink can protect your body from the myriad health woes. Studies have shown that up to 70% if heart disease conditions are stoppable as long as you follow the right and healthy food groups.

Manage Your Stress

_{image source}

Managing your feelings and emotions can help protect your health. Obviously, stress can have a big effect on your heart even you don't have a heart disease. Nurture a mutually supportive relationship with your friends, family, and workmates. Get a regular exercise. It's vital for the heart, lessens anxiety and depressions, and promotes good sleep. As much as possible, keep your work outside your personal life. Make it a habit to have a relaxation techniques, such as meditation, deep breathing exercise, progressive relaxation, or visualization.

Avoid Alcohol

_{image source}

Drink alcohol in moderation. This means an average of 1 or 2 drinks a day for men and 1 drink a day for women. Drinking more than the average drink per day can increase dangers of alcoholism, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, and other debilitating illnesses.

Stay at a Healthy Weight

_{image sub}

Your body essentially needs cholesterol to be healthy. Ergo, an imbalance of cholesterol in blood vessels can lead a heart attack or stroke. Eating a varied of nutritional foods can help with your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol. Remember to eat less salt, replace unhealthy fats with healthy ones such as unsaturated fats because it will decrease your risk of a heart disease.

Quit smoking

_{image source}

If you're a long time smoker or just get influenced from someone, do your heart a favor and bid farewell to tobacco. Because the chemicals that the tobacco contains can harm your blood cells. They can also destroy the function and structure of your heart's blood vessels. This damage will get worst and can lead to atherosclerosis.

Get involved! How can you celebrate the Heart Month?

Can you take part in this Heart Month observations too? Absolutely! The first thing to do is to adhere the DOH's advice by cutting down on all controllable risk factors for heart diseases. That means giving up smoking, kicking out obesity and inactivity, and the like.

How about You Steemians, how do you take care of your heart?

---

^{About the Author
@ninyea is a content curator. A registered nurse, an artsy-wannabe and an online tutor. A korean food lover. One of the core leaders of SteemPh.Cebu. Has the passion of influencing others to push their full potential and interest on Steemit.}