Health and Fitness

A defibrillator is not going to run correctly unless the defibrillator battery is working. A defibrillator battery creates the charge of energy that travels through the rest of the defibrillator to jumpstart the heart. Without an energy source, the defibrillator simply won’t work.

Battery Interaction

Defibrillator batteries are used in both internal and external defibrillators. In an internal defibrillator, or defibrillator implant, the entire defibrillator is placed in the person’s chest. The battery in a defibrillator implant sends a charge through an electrode wire. The electrode wire is actually placed in a vein in the heart’s chamber. This allows it to deliver the shock immediately when it detects and irregular heartbeat. Defibrillator implants are only placed in people who have serious heart conditions.

The other type of defibrillator is called an external defibrillator. This device is used by emergency technicians when a patient is going through cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest occurs when the heartbeat becomes extremely irregular (usually it speeds up) and prevents the heart from delivering blood and oxygen to vital organs.

An external defibrillator battery is connected to two pads. These pads are the size of a man’s hand. They are placed on a person’s chest. The battery is housed in a carrying unit. When it’s needed, it sends the charge through the pad chords to the pads. After the shock, the person should make some kind of movement between 10 and 12 seconds.

Keeping Your Battery Charged

Anything that’s battery operated requires a well maintained battery. Your remote control won’t work if the batteries are dead and neither will your defibrillator. If you’re getting a defibrillator implant, make sure you go over the battery function with your doctor. Your doctor will program the implant to beep when the battery is running out of power. You’ll also be expected to have a check up every three months to make sure the battery is working correctly.
When your defibrillator battery is ready to be charged, you’ll use some kind of external charger to juice it up. External defibrillators are also charged through some sort of external source. These batteries generally have a shelf life of four years. Though these defibrillator batteries last for a while, they will need to be replaced at some point.

Disposing of the Battery

As people have become more environmentally conscious, defibrillator providers have started to offer battery-recycling services. For example, the AED Superstore will recycle defibrillator batteries. All you have to do is discharge the batteries and ship them to the company.

You do not have to recycle your defibrillator battery, but it is an environmentally friendly gesture and it’s not expensive. All you have to pay for is the shipping costs to send your defibrillator battery to the superstore.

You keep hearing about the dangers of high cholesterol levels. People with high cholesterol have a higher risk for heart attacks, heart disease and strokes. Keeping normal levels of cholesterol can help reduce these health risks.

Cholesterol is measured in milligrams. Adults are classified with cholesterol levels. Your levels can also be based on other factors like your race, health, gender, age, family history, whether or not you smoke, if you have high blood pressure, overweight or obesity, if you have diabetes and your exercise regimen.

LDL is low density lipoprotein also known as ‘bad’ cholesterol. HDL is high density lipoprotein also known as ‘good’ cholesterol. Your doctor will give you a test that releases the information of your LDL and HDL levels.

If your total cholesterol level is less than two hundred milligrams you are at lower risk for heart diseases. A level of two hundred to two hundred and thirty nine is borderline high. If your level is two hundred and forty or above you have high cholesterol giving you twice the risk of a heart disease.

Your HDL level will also play a factor in your risks for medical problems. A low HDL cholesterol level will you put at risk whereas a high HDL level is considered protective. You want to understand what each of these mean to better take care of your health and prevent any medical problems that could occur.

The normal levels of cholesterol depend on many different factors such as your age, genes and even culture. The ideal level is below two hundred milligrams according to certain health officials.

The normal level of total cholesterol is below two hundred and is considered high if over two hundred and forty. The normal level of LDL is below one hundred and thirty and is considered high if above one hundred and sixty. The normal level of HDL is above thirty five and the best if above sixty milligrams. The normal level of triglycerides is below two hundred and considered high if above four hundred.

A great way to watch your cholesterol level is to watch what you eat. Eating more fats can result in your cholesterol increasing. Read the labels on your food to look for how many calories, calories from the fat, the total amount of fat, saturated fat and of course cholesterol.

Foods with hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oil are good to avoid. Try to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains. Reason being because they have little fat and no cholesterol. That means less for you to watch out for.

Buy lean meats and try to only have 3 ounce servings when eating meat. Stick to broiled and baked foods instead of fried. All the fat of fried foods will have a major effect on your cholesterol level. This is one of the many main reasons for people with high cholesterol. Eating too many fried foods will do that to a person. Along with watching what you eat, the best way to keep your cholesterol levels normal is to exercise regularly along with your diet.

We hear a lot about heart disease and other problems of the cardiovascular system. It has been a problem that has been faced by scientists and health professionals over many decades. We can be forgiven for thinking that with all the attention it has received and all the money that has been spent in trying to find treatments and cures that the problem would have been solved and that the number of people who are dying from cardiovascular system problems would have decreased. This does not appear to be the case. I find the following information alarming.

Piscatella and Franklin (2003) estimate that cardiovascular disease afflicts 100 million Americans (about half the population). One person, in the United States, dies from cardiovascular disease every 34 seconds. This means that by 7 am on any day of the week, 741 have already died of cardiovascular disease, by noon the figure has risen to 1,271 and by the time the day has ended 2,488 have died. Let’s put this another way. The American odds of contracting AIDS is 1 in 1,000,000. The chance of being murdered is 1 in 10,000. However, the risk of dying for cardiovascular disease is 1 in 2.

It has often been thought that this is a man’s problem. However, there are almost as many women with heart problems as men and it is the leading cause of death among American women. Over 250,000 women die of heart disease each year – which is more than the next 14 causes of death added together. More women than men die of heart disease each year. Twice as many women die each year from cardiovascular disease than from all forms of cancer combined.

Answers to questions about heart disease

What is a heart attack?

A heart attack – also called a myocardial infarction (MI) or coronary occlusion (coronary) occurs when blood flow to a part of the heart muscle is blocked. It is caused by a blockage of the coronary artery, or more commonly one of its sub-branches. This usually results from the movement of unstable plaque on the artery wall, a blood clot or a spasm that seals off the artery. The section of the heart muscle that is without blood supply eventually dies and this produces permanent damage to the heart muscle tissue, which comprises the bulk of the organ.

What does a heart attack feel like?

The most common symptom is pain or pressure or a sense of fullness in the chest that lasts for two or more minutes. Men sometimes say that it feels like having a vice squeezing their chest or an elephant sitting on their chest. Women typically experience a milder pain. The pain or sensation may (or it might not) also be in the shoulders, neck, jaw, back, arms or abdomen. Men tend to have sharper pain than women and also often in their arms and shoulders. Dizziness, sweating, nausea and shortness of breath may also occur.

If you have ever run very hard without proper training you will have felt the pain in your muscles caused by lack of oxygen during the time you forced them to work. Well, your heart muscle always has to work for you to live, so when part of it is suddenly deprived of oxygen the pain can be extreme, resulting in loss of consciousness.

When are heart attacks most likely to occur?

Men may first get the signs of heart disease between the ages of 35 and 40 years. The condition doesn’t usually affect women until between the ages of 45 and 64 years.

There are differences in the time of day and the time of the week when heart attacks are most likely to occur. Between 6 am and 12 mid day are the riskiest time of the day – possibly because of the increases in hormone levels and blood pressure and artery stiffness in the morning. More heart attacks happen on Mondays than any other day of the week – sometimes called “Blue Monday”. It is thought that the stress of the work environment – especially after a period of relaxation may be the cause.

What is angina?

There are often no warning symptoms in the early stages of heart disease. However, as the arteries that feed blood and oxygen to the heart muscle (the coronary arteries) become gradually narrowed many people experience angina or angina pectoris – “chest pain”. The heart muscle itself is receiving insufficient oxygen for its current level of workload, just like the untrained runner’s legs mentioned above.

Angina is a sharp, sudden pain – a feeling of tightness, heaviness, squeezing, numbness, burning or pressure. It may move into the arms (often the left arm), neck, jaw, back and shoulder.

Angina is a symptom, not a disease. It is progressive – the pain can becomes more frequent, more intense of both.

Not all angina is the same.

• Some occurs during or soon after physical exertion, eating a heavy meal, going into the cold or heat, or as a reaction to emotional stress. Sufferers are usually forced to stop what they are doing (thereby reducing the workload on the heat so that it will have enough oxygen).
• Another form of angina produces pain at less predictable times – even when you are sleeping. This form is often a symptom of an impending heart attack.
• Angina is a indicator of coronary artery blockage – it affects over 5 million Americans.

What is a cardiac arrest?A cardiac arrest is where the heart ceases to function – its normal process of pumping blood throughout the body stops. This is an emergency situation as the body, and in particular the brain, needs oxygen supplied via the blood flow. Without this oxygen death occurs rapidly. Most cases of cardiac arrest are related to the heart’s electrical conduction system that isn’t working properly and the heart beats irregularly, such as in ventricular fibrillation where the heart beat is chaotic and ineffective. Sometimes a heart attack can lead to these heart beat problems.

There are ways to deal with and overcome heart disease.

All of the information provided above presents a very gloomy picture. However, you and your family do not need to be a part of this heart disease tragedy. Any changes that your body makes in one direction (for example, towards cardiovascular disease) it can make in the opposite direction (for example, towards a healthy cardiovascular system). You will need to take action to make it happen. Some of the actions you need to take include:

• quit smoking, if you are a smoker then the Growerz.com quit smoking program will help you.
• balance your diet,
• make exercise a health habit, and
• manage your stress levels.

As well as these you need to cleanse your body of toxins – this includes the toxins that have built up in your arteries as well as the rest of your internal tissues. These actions (how to take them, things you need to consider and more) will be included in future articles on heart disease.Part of the tragedy of heart disease is that, as devastating as the disease may be, it is avoidable and treatable. Far too many people are drawn into the myths promoted by western medicine that suggest little can be done to effectively deal with the disease. Your typical doctor has accepted the verdict that suits the pharmaceutical industry and treats you entirely within their “market”. They have largely lost the knowledge and skills to deal with heart disease any other way and now simply perform tests, prescribe side-effect laden drugs and expect you to die soon enough, after they have separated you from a good deal of money. Their approach is massively expensive (consider the tests, drugs, special paramedics, coronary care units and lost work productivity, not to mention the human suffering), quite clearly does not work (just look at the statistics) and simply cannot be relied upon.

Heart disease is largely a lifestyle related problem. There is a genetic component, but that is over emphasized by most of the medical profession who want to excuse their failure. With some guidance and a commitment to make some changes you can avoid or recover from heart disease or at the very least dramatically improve your quality of life if you already have advanced pathology.

References

Davies, S. and A. Stewart., 1997, Nutritional Medicine. Pan.

Holden, S., Hudson, K., Tilman, J. & D. Wolf, 2003, The Ultimate Guide to Health from Nature. Asrolog Publication.

Pistcatella, J.C. and Frankin, B.A. 2003, Take a Load off Your Heart. Workman.

Saxelby, C. 2001, Nutrition for the Healthy Heart. Hardie Grant.

If you have a high cholesterol reading for any length of time then there is an increased risk that you will get thickening of the artery walls. This can ultimately lead to other cardiovascular problems, in particular heart disease. Heart disease is a leading cause of death of people in many developed countries thus there is plenty of information on how to lower cholesterol. In general, it involves eating foods with less cholesterol and taking on regular exercise. There is another approach to reducing cholesterol that involves taking foods and supplements that can combat cholesterol. One such foodstuff that can help is niacin. This article will discus how niacin can be used to control cholesterol.

Niacin is also known as vitamin B3 or nicotonic acid. It is soluble in water and can be found in a range of foods. It can be found in leaf vegetables, avocados, broccoli and many other foods. Most people that eat a balanced diet will get enough niacin for it to be effective within the body.

Niacin is believed to be effective in lowering cholesterol in two ways. However, before covering this we need to understand how cholesterol is transported throughout the body.

The nutrients, sugar and other elements of food, including cholesterol, are absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestine. However cholesterol cannot be moved throughout the body because it is not soluble in water (or blood). Thus it is attached lipoproteins. They act as cholesterol transporters.

There are various types of lipoproteins that are responsible for different parts of this transport. Very low density lipoproteins (or VLDL cholesterol) transports cholesterol from the liver. Low density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol) transports cholesterol throughout the body but often bind with the artery walls. This leads to thickening of the artery walls or atherosclerosis (which is bad for the body and is dubbed bad cholesterol). High density lipoproteins (HDL cholesterol) transports cholesterol back to the liver where it is removed from the body (this is good for the body and therefore is called good cholesterol).

Niacin is believed block the breakdown of fats in the body. This causes a decrease in free fatty acids in the blood. This means that the levels of VLDL and cholesterol produced by the liver are decreased. By decreasing the level of VLDL, niacin also causes the level of HLDL cholesterol to be increased. By reducing VLDL cholesterol and increasing HDL cholesterol niacin is effectively reducing the bad cholesterol in the body.

Niacin supplements are sometimes prescribed when a person has low levels of HDL cholestrol but in most cases a person can get their daily requirement of niacin by eating a balanced diet that includes fresh fruit and vegetables.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, simply means that the pressure within the walls of the blood vessels has is on the rise. This can be due to varying factors such as a narrowing of the lumen due to atherosclerosis or some types of medication as well. Sometimes deposits may form within the walls of the blood vessels, which effectively narrows them and the pressure on those walls increases. Whatever the cause of the increase in your blood pressure, it is quite simply a ticking time-bomb, to re-use an often used phrase.

Although it has been said a great many times, it hasn’t been emphasized enough. If you believe that your blood pressure is high, don’t wait until you have other health issues to find out.

How Do I Know If I Have High Blood Pressure?

The only real method of finding out whether or not you have hypertension is to have your blood pressure taken by a medical professional. There are sometimes symptoms of hypertension but very often there are none until the stroke or heart attack renders you helpless.

How Is Blood Pressure Tested?

Blood pressure is tested by the use of a sphygmomanometer, which is the typical blood pressure cuff that you see in the physician’s office or in the nurse’s bag. It is wrapped snugly around your arm and then inflated. The first beat that we hear as the cuff is deflated is the upper, or systolic blood pressure. This is the measure of the pressure against the arterial wall when the heart is at work or when it is beating. The second or lower number in your blood pressure is the measure of pressure within that same lumen when the heart is at rest, or the diastolic pressure.

Tips for Having Your Blood Pressure Taken

When your blood pressure is being measured, try to relax. Many people who are fearful or concerned by having to visit their medical professional have what we term “white coat” syndrome. This will effectively increase the pressure by several millimeters of mercury and as such the reading that we have is not a true reading. Hold your arm level at your waist rather than permitting it to hang down at your side. This causes blood pooling and can also increase the pressure. Above all don’t smoke right before the pressure is taken.

Categories for Blood Pressure Levels in Adults

Blood pressure is considered high when it rises above 120 over 80, or in men 130 over 80. Pressures will typically increase slightly when we grow older but a marked jump is not normal and should always be checked out with your physician

What Device Can I Use to Take My Own Blood Pressure?

In today’s market and with new technologies, there is no reason why anyone can’t take and record their own blood pressure. Machines are available at nominal costs which will take your pressure and show it digitally while keeping in record electronically the last five or ten blood pressures. Taking and recording your own blood pressure for several days will help you to determine if, in fact, it is high, in which case your physician can advise you on how to proceed.

Heart disease occurs when there is any type of reduction in the function of the heart muscles. This reduction of function can come in many forms such as arrhythmia or actual heart attacks. Heart disease can be something that occurs over a long period of time or something that appears quite suddenly. Heart disease, while not always lethal, is responsible for many deaths throughout the world. Due to its prevalence, many people look for alternative ways to help cure or prevent heart disease. One of the methods that is currently popular is the use of flaxseeds.

How Can Flaxseeds Help Heart Disease?

Flaxseeds are believed to be helpful in the fight against heart disease for several reasons. One reason is because flaxseeds are rich with alpha-linolenic acid. Alpha-linolenic acid is a type of omega-3 acid; omega-3 acids are thought of as very healthy for person’s heart. However, many people do not get enough omega-3 fatty acids due to the fact that they are most commonly found in foods like fish. Since many people do not like fish or do not eat it often enough even if they do like it, this is something that is missing from many people’s diets.

Another reason, the flaxseed may be beneficial in preventing heart disease is due to the fact that flaxseed contains lingan. Lingan is a type of antioxidant that also provides fiber. Antioxidants are responsible for helping fight many diseases, heart disease included.

What to be Aware of When Purchasing Flaxseed Oil

Although flaxseed oil can be potentially helpful in the prevention and treatment of many diseases, there are things consumers should be aware of before purchasing this supplement. First of all, when purchasing flaxseed oil consumers should be aware that this substance is prone to break down when influenced by light and oxygen. Although this breakdown may not be obvious, it will take away many of the beneficial properties of the flaxseed oil.

Secondly, consumer should always be aware that they should consult their doctor prior to starting any type of supplement even if it is natural. This is due to the fact that even medications that are derived from natural plants can be very harmful. Some of the most powerful prescription medicines we have today have in fact been derived from plants and other natural sources. These medications can be dangerous when they are not taken under the advice of a medical doctor. Also, many natural medications, even if they are not harmed when their own, can interact with prescribed medications and cause very bad side effects.