How to live a healthy life
Facts on how exercise helps the heart.
How it helps your heart
Evidence shows those who exercise three or more times a week for 20 to 40 minutes at a time benefit from stronger muscles and a heart that pumps more blood with less effort. The ability of all cells to use the increased blood flow and oxygen is increased. Blood pressure goes down and levels of good cholesterol, high density lipo-protein or HDL, go up. Even small increases in HDL can lower the risk of heart disease. Better still, exercisers feel better, sleep better and have more energy.Exercise can help you lose weight by burning calories and increasing metabolism. It also helps you handle stress by burning chemicals in your blood stream like adrenaline that are released when you’re under stress.
Facts about the heart
- Your system of blood vessels – arteries, veins and capillaries – is over 60,000 miles long. That’s long enough to go around the world more than twice!
- The adult heart pumps about 5 quarts of blood each minute – approximately 2,000 gallons of blood each day – throughout the body.
- When attempting to locate their heart, most people place their hand on their left chest. Actually, your heart is located in the centre of your chest between your lungs. The bottom of the heart is tipped to the left, so you feel more of your heart on your left side of your chest.
- The heart beats about 100,000 times each day.
- In a 70-year lifetime, the average human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times
- An adult woman’s heart weighs about 8 ounces, a man’s about 10 ounces
- A child’s heart is about the size of a clenched fist; an adult’s heart is about the size of two fists.
- Blood is about 78 percent water.
- Blood takes about 20 seconds to circulate throughout the entire vascular system.
- The structure of the heart was first described in 1706, by Raymond de Viessens, a French anatomy professor.
- The electrocardiograph (ECG) was invented in 1902 by Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven. This test is still used to evaluate the heart’s rate and rhythm.
The first heart specialists emerged after World War I
Exercises that can help you get healthy.
A sedentary (inactive) lifestyle is one of the top risk factors for heart disease. Fortunately, it’s a risk factor that you can do something about. Regular exercise, especially aerobic exercise, has many benefits. It can:
- Strengthen your heart and cardiovascular system.
- Improve your circulation and help your body use oxygen better.
- Improve your heart failure symptoms.
- Increase energy levels so you can do more activities without becoming tired or short of breath.
- Increase endurance.
- Lower blood pressure.
- Improve muscle tone and strength.
- Improve balance and joint flexibility.
- Strengthen bones.
- Help reduce body fat and help you reach a healthy weight.
- Help reduce stress, tension, anxiety and depression.
- Boost self-image and self-esteem.
- Improve sleep.
- Make you feel more relaxed and rested.
- Make you look fit and feel healthy.
Foods that can help you get healthy.
EATING RIGHT
Eating the right foods and the right amounts of foods can help you live a longer, healthier life. Research has proven that many illnesses—such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure—can be prevented or controlled by eating right. Getting the nutrients you need, such as calcium and iron, and keeping your weight under control can help. Try to balance the calories you get from food with the calories you use through physical activity). It is never too late to start eating right. Here are some helpful tips.
Eat a variety of foods, especially:
Vegetables. Choose dark-green leafy and deep-yellow vegetables.
Fruits. Choose citrus fruits or juices, melons, and berries.
Dry beans (such as red beans, navy beans, and soybeans), lentils, chickpeas, and peanuts.
Whole grains, such as wheat, rice, oats, corn, and barley.
Where Do I Come From
My name is Zakariyah Hall and I was born on 9/14/92 in London, England. I’m also part Jamaican, Grenadian, and Ghanaian. These are all three of my ethnic back rounds. I was also raised in the United States. Specifically Kirkwood, Georgia.
My dad was born and raised in England but he is part Jamaican and Grenadian. His mother is also Grenadian. His dad is Jamaican and that’s why part of my dads back round is Jamaican. Both of my dad’s parents live in London now but, they are not from here. The city his mom comes from is St. David and his dad is from Montego Bay.
My mum’s back round is quite different. She was also born and raised in England like my dad. She is part Ghanaian and so are both of her parents. My mum’s parents told me that in Ghana 90 percent of people speak Twi and 10 percent speak Akan. The city that my grandparents are from is called Ashanti that is where they hail from.
