Our heart is an engine

Our heart has a very important job in our daily life because it pumps blood, oxygen and other necessary substances to all the places in our body that require it. That's why is so important to us to keep it making its job the proper way it does. It is located on our chest, slightly tilted to the left and measures exactly the same as our fist. There's a lot of illness that can alter its normal functioning, like obesity, sedentary lifestyle (not an illness at all), smoking, hypertension, arrhythmia, diseases associated with high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, diabetes among others. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease characterized by the accumulation of lipids, inflammatory cells and fibrous tissue in the arteries, which means that our motor is not capable of pumping the necessary substances together with the blood effectively to every inch of our body. Also, if diabetes is not treated in time, it can cause a general deterioration of our blood vessels and lead to atherosclerosis.



The only way to prevent these diseases that affect our heart are those that are modifiable, such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and diseases associated with cholesterol, since the other mentioned are not modifiable because they are mostly genetically transmitted. To have controlled the modifiable factors is necessary to make a change in our lifestyle to be healthy. Depending on the level of cardiovascular risk, there are general treatments that include improving dietary habits; which means eating healthy and include carrying out physical activity, controlling overweight and obesity, avoiding tobacco and medically treating the diseases that require it. A general and localized medical checkup should also be included annually to verify the state of our heart and all the vital organs of our body and see our progress in the change of habits.