Dear human friends: Hello, everyone! Speaking of me, you will not be unfamiliar with me. As a symbol of loyalty, the embodiment of romance and a source of wisdom, my image is everywhere in your world. Have you guessed it? I am the heart that resides in your chest cavity. Although I am well known, not everyone really knows me. Today I want to write a letter to you about my joys and sorrows, and the other side of me that is not well known. I am the strongest pump in my body When it comes to my size, many people clench their fists and say, “Look, my heart is this big.” The average adult me is about 15 cm long and weighs about 350 grams. Don’t look at the size of an ordinary pear, for so many years I have been silently delivering blood and life-sustaining energy to a body that weighs 200 times as much as I do. As long as life goes on, I will keep on beating. Some people have calculated that the work I have done in my life pumping blood is equivalent to lifting 30,000 kilograms to the top of the Himalayas, making me the strongest pump in the body. Based on this alone, our heart should be selected as the world’s top labor model. In addition to being competent, I am also loyal. Although the work is very busy, but I am very considerate of the big picture. When my master’s activity increases, my footsteps rush to keep up. On the field I help sportsmen run faster and jump higher, helping humans to complete one leap after another; when the master encounters an emergency, I can immediately speed up the number of heartbeats as needed, showing great self-awareness and initiative; when the master needs to be quiet, I will again slow down the pace and lie quietly in his body, not disturbing him to think about the problem. Like you, I also have time to work and rest every day. When in a normal working state, I beat about 60-70 times a minute for about 0.9 seconds each time, of which, 0.3 seconds contraction, that is, work; 0.6 seconds diastole, that is, rest. In other words, I spend 1/3 of my time working and 2/3 of my time resting. When people are asleep, I again automatically adjust the beating per minute to reduce, each time about 1/4 of the work time and 3/4 of the rest time. I have a lot of power, but I am clean and honest. Although I have two rooms and two chambers, constantly collecting blood from the whole body, but never intercepting and exclusive use, each time I use all my strength to transport the blood out and supply all organs of the body. My own nutrition relies on the creeping on my body, a whole set of independent vascular network – the coronary artery system to supply. I am also very protective of myself. When the blood supply capacity of certain blood vessels in my body is significantly reduced, I will send a warning signal, so that the owner of the chest area to feel pain and discomfort, to remind the owner to take protective measures. I am afraid of “bad owners” Whenever people want to express their sincerity and love, saying “I give you my heart”, I am honored to feel that I am the most precious thing in the world. However, there are times when I feel very unappreciated and even hurt. Many people have heart problems because of their unhealthy lifestyles, and they will tell others that it’s their heart that’s broken, which makes me feel very unfair. It’s obvious that they broke me, but they still say it’s my problem. We have a popular saying in the heart community, “There are no bad hearts in the world, only bad owners.” During the day, we also compare our owners in private, and if anyone’s owner falls into one of the following categories, we worry for these fellow citizens. The owner of the “three highs”. Wang Jiguang, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Hypertension, said that high blood pressure, high blood pressure and high blood sugar are important causes of cardiovascular disease. High blood pressure will increase the resistance of blood vessels, so that I have to increase the force when pumping blood outward, over time, I will become more fat than before, and in serious cases, even exhaustion to failure. High blood pressure tends to cause atherosclerosis, which is prone to angina pectoris and even myocardial infarction. In addition, the chance of cardiovascular complications in type 2 diabetes is greater than 70%. Smoking master. I get very scared whenever I see my master lighting up a cigarette. The nicotine in cigarettes and the many toxic substances in the smoke stimulate blood vessels throughout the body to constrict, making them harder and harder and blood pressure higher and higher. To combat these stresses, I have to work my ass off. The carbon monoxide in the smoke also increases the possibility of blood clot formation and increases the risk of sudden cardiac death. The alcoholic owner. I am not afraid of my master’s drinking, but I am afraid that he will not control the amount well and drink too much to hurt me, make me tremble (atrial fibrillation), and even destroy my otherwise very skilled pumping function. The owner who stays up late. In recent years, the number of cases of myocardial infarction in young people around 30 years old has been increasing year by year, and a big reason for this is irregular life and high stress, which causes physical overdraft. Wei Meng, director of the Department of Cardiology at the Sixth People’s Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said for us that nighttime is supposed to be the time when the endothelial cells of blood vessels are metabolizing, and if its regularity is disrupted, the damage to the heart will be great. A study in the United States showed that sleeping less than seven hours a day also puts us at significantly higher risk of disease. Therefore, it is essential to protect me and get enough sleep. Mentally stressed owners. The owner is mentally stressed, and there is no way for my life to continue normally. Medical staff at the University of London Medical School confirmed through a large-scale trial that people under greater stress have a twofold increased risk of atherosclerosis, which greatly increases the risk of heart disease. Six things I like Although some owners do a substandard job, if we are lucky, we can still meet owners who treat us well. They are optimistic and calm, make us comfortable, give us healthy food every day, and we are very happy to live with them. Some medical experts have also figured out six things we like best. If everyone could take care of us carefully according to these criteria, we would surely work harder for human beings. Deal with people more often. Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago followed more than 2,000 men over a 30-year period. Their study found that men with introverted personalities were surprisingly 50% more likely to die of heart disease. People who are outgoing and enjoy socializing tend to have a healthier heart than those who are introverted. Staple foods like to be coarser. By eating more whole grains, total cholesterol, “bad cholesterol” (i.e., LDL cholesterol), will drop, and if you can lower your cholesterol by 1 percent, the death rate from coronary heart disease will drop by 2 percent. Professor Chen Zhan, a central health care consultation specialist and a cardiologist at Anzhen Hospital of Capital Medical University, is so good at protecting us that he brews himself a steaming bowl of cereal porridge every morning. Therefore, already 80 years old, he still insists on going to work at the hospital every day, and usually rarely even gets a cold. Preference for red-colored fruits and vegetables. I love red food most, such as tomatoes, red apples, red grapes, red dates, etc. Professor Wu Dazhen, president of the Chinese Health Care Association, said that red food has extremely strong antioxidant properties, rich in lycopene and tannins, which can protect cells and have anti-inflammatory effects. Red foods are rich in B vitamins and iron. In addition, red food has the effect of enhancing memory and stabilizing mood. In the United States, February 4-10 each year by the American Heart Association as “National Red Food Week” to encourage people to eat more red fruits and vegetables to protect us. Snack favorites are nuts. Hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds and other nuts are extremely rich in fatty acids, can regulate blood lipids, lower cholesterol, prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease and other ischemic heart disease. Currently, the American Heart Association has listed nuts as “heart food”. Studies have shown that eating almonds twice a week, each time a handful (30 grams) or so, about 20-25, long-term persistence, the chances of heart disease or coronary heart disease will be reduced by 50%. Take a pedometer for a brisk walk. Brisk walking is an exercise that I enjoy. Dr. White, the founder of the American Heart Association and a renowned cardiologist, pioneered walking as a rehabilitation treatment for heart disease and heart attack patients, with good results. Not long ago, a study of 1,645 people over the age of 65 in the United States found that those who walked more than 4 hours a week had 69% fewer cardiovascular hospitalizations and 73% less mortality than those who walked less than 1 hour a week. Professor Hu Dayi, chairman of the Cardiovascular Disease Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, also has a heart protection magic formula, walking 10,000 steps fast with a pedometer every day for 9 years almost without interruption. Have a smile every day. A new survey conducted by U.S. researchers on diabetic patients shows that a good laugh every day can significantly increase the level of “good cholesterol” (i.e. HDL cholesterol) in patients and reduce the risk of heart attack. The researchers asked a group of people to watch a humorous video for at least 30 minutes a day to enjoy the lighter moments of laughter. After two months, the researchers found that the group who laughed every day had lower levels of adrenaline and norepinephrine, two hormones thought to be related to the stress people feel, suggesting that laughing was helping them reduce stress and is helping us relax. Finally, good health and all the best to our human friends!