Put your hand on your chest and feel your heartbeat. Now put your hands where you can feel your pulse. That pulse is the signature of your being. Your heart, creating pulses, is working for you every minute of the day, every day of the year, and every year of your entire life. If you live in average lifetime, your heart will be about 3 billion times.
Now take a moment to realize that during the time it took you to read the above paragraph an artery in the heart of roughly 1 American clogged up, cut of blood flow and started a rapid process of tissue and cell death. This process is better known, of course, as a heart attack. By the time you finish reading this page, 4 Americans will have had a heart attack, and another four will have fallen prey to stroke or heart failure. Over the next 24 hours, 3000 Americans will have heart attacks, roughly the same number of people who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The heart is the centerpiece of life and, more often than not in America, it is the centerpiece of death. Malfunction of the heart and or circulation system will kill 40% of Americans, more than those killed by any other country or ailments, including cancer. Heart disease has been our number one cause of death for almost 100 years. This disease does not recognize gender or race boundaries: all are affected. If you were asked most women what disease process the greatest risk to them, heart disease or breast cancer, many women would undoubtedly say breast cancer. But they would be wrong. Women's death rate from her disease is eight times higher than your death rate from breast cancer. If there is an "American" game, it is called baseball: an "American" desert, apple pie. If there is an "American" disease, it is heart disease.
Now take a moment to realize that during the time it took you to read the above paragraph an artery in the heart of roughly 1 American clogged up, cut of blood flow and started a rapid process of tissue and cell death. This process is better known, of course, as a heart attack. By the time you finish reading this page, 4 Americans will have had a heart attack, and another four will have fallen prey to stroke or heart failure. Over the next 24 hours, 3000 Americans will have heart attacks, roughly the same number of people who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The heart is the centerpiece of life and, more often than not in America, it is the centerpiece of death. Malfunction of the heart and or circulation system will kill 40% of Americans, more than those killed by any other country or ailments, including cancer. Heart disease has been our number one cause of death for almost 100 years. This disease does not recognize gender or race boundaries: all are affected. If you were asked most women what disease process the greatest risk to them, heart disease or breast cancer, many women would undoubtedly say breast cancer. But they would be wrong. Women's death rate from her disease is eight times higher than your death rate from breast cancer. If there is an "American" game, it is called baseball: an "American" desert, apple pie. If there is an "American" disease, it is heart disease.
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