According to the World Health Organisation, 25 per of the 11 million deaths occurring each year in Western society are due to heart disease. That amounts to 2,750,000 deaths annually. Additionally, they estimate that a further 13 per cent (1,430,000 people) die from strokes. Coronary heart disease is the greatest single cause of death in North America
and in most European countries.

Coronary artery disease, usually brought about by fatty foods and insufficient exercise, often starts its deadly course in young, healthy individuals. As fatty cholesterol begins to ‘fur up’ their arteries, restricting bloodflow and the oxygen supply to the heart, the heart’s work capacity slowly declines and heart-attack risk increases. Coronary heart disease starts when we are young and develops until we are middle-aged. Then, from the age of about 35 years for men and 45 for women, if we have constantly eaten the wrong foods and neglected to exercise, we die. Since it is a pain in the neck bothering about exercise and extremely pleasurable to eat delicious foods, we knowingly play Russian roulette with our lifespan and commit ‘slow suicide’.

There is a good deal of confusion about cholesterol, mainly because some is good (the high-density lipoprotcins) and some is bad (the low-density lipoproteins) for the health. High levels of the latter are responsible for clogging the arteries and putting strain on the heart, which has to work harder to pump blood around the body and can eventuall:

lead to heart disease. High levels of bad cholesterol can be caused by genetic disposition in some unfortunate individuals, but in most people it is caused by eating too much of the wrong sort of fat — saturated animal fat. We can’t change our genetic make-up, but we can improve our eating habits by avoiding saturated and trans-fatty-acid foods, which I call ‘bad’ fats, and by eating foods which help to lower the risk of excess bad cholesterol, such as fruit, vegetables, oats, bran and wholemeal or granary bread.

The heart is a wonderful muscular pump, the size of a fist, wedged between the lungs and protected by the ribs. Its task is to force blood around the body bearing nutrients and oxygen to every living tissue. The blood travels out from the heart in arteries and back again via the veins. Like any muscle, the heart needs to be kept fit to do its job properly. The average heart beats at between 60 and 100 times a minute when at rest, pumping around nine pints of blood per minute. The amount pumped increases in response to the quicker heartbeat when we exercise. At about 200 beats, some 45 pints per minute (over 60 pints in the case of a top athlete) can be circulated by a strong heart.

Any clogging of the arteries, caused by fats, interrupts the blood circulation with potentially deadly results. If arteries supplying oxygen to the heart itself are blocked, parts of the heart muscle may fail, which you could experience as angina pain or eventually a heart-attack. Lack of exercise and food control is asking for trouble. The only excuse you
have for killing yourself (and hurting anyone who loves you) is ignorance or sheer idleness. Once you’ve finished reading this book, only idleness will remain.

However busy you are, you find time for your favourite activities, hobbies and small pleasures like watching the television or reading the newspaper. On Sundays people make time for mowing the lawn or washing the car. Even weightlifters and body builders can spend hours every day working on their chests and biceps, yet ignore their heart muscles Finding time, or making time, to service your heart is infinitely more important.

The chest expands with increased bench presses likewise, the heart grows with prolonged aerobic exercise. A well-exercised heart can be 40 per cent larger than a ‘normal’ heart and can pump 50 per cent more blood with every beat.

Once you have worked on it, your heart will have bigger chambers, so it will not have to beat so often to keep you ‘ticking over’. The lower your heart rate. the better your chances of living longer and retaining good health. Regular aerobic exercise will reduce stress and high blood pressure, cut down the amount of ‘bad’ cholesterol in your system while increasing levels of ‘good’ cholesterol, reduce any excess weight and help you to suppress bad habits
like eating chocolate or smoking. If you have already had a heart-attack and do not improve your ways, you will soon die. Medically supervised exercise and food control can give you a new lease of life with no more heart-attacks and no
more angina.

There are five additional perks for folk who treat their hearts correctly:
• A smaller acceleration of your pulse rate under stress.
• Your pulse rate returns more rapidly to its normal rate after suffering stress.
• Your heart pumps more blood per beat at rest and during exercise.
• The small blood vessels that supply your heart muscle are more richly developed.
• There is a far better supply of oxygen and ‘food’ to your muscles and a quicker recuperation after exercise, whether at work or at play.

Source: Ranulph Fiennes Fit for life