My Conclusion

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20 Outstanding Heart Facts

photo cred: google

Everyone knows the facts of the heart and people, but they don't know how serious it can be. Well I'm here to tell you those facts. I feel like it is important to know these, because I feel like it'll mean something to you in a good or bad way. I hope not a bad way, just and eye opener. I promise I won't bore you, but I do promise that you'll get something out of it.

1. The more education you have, the lower the risk of heart disease
2. The normal heart valve is about the size of the half dollar
3.The first heart pacemaker was plugged into a wall socket
4. Happiness and a strong sense of emotional vitality helps lower your risk of heart disease
5. The number of heart attacks peaks are on Christmas Day, followed by December 26th and New Years
6. The first heart cell starts to beat as early as 4 weeks
7. The first "study" showing benefits of a vegetarian diet appears in the Bible's Book of Daniel
8. The Blue Whale has the largest heart weighing at 1,600 lbs
9. Modesty prompted the invention of the stethoscope. Before it existed, doctors had to press their ears directly each patient's chest
10. Heart disease has been found in 3,000-year-old mummies
11. The heart is the size of your two hands clasped together,,,
12, ,,, It beats 100,000 times a day
13. Regular exercise is the single most important key to heart health and its free!
14. Heart disease is your greatest health threat
15. The beating sound is the is the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing
16. Each minute, your heart pumps 1.5 gallons of blood
17. Your heart is a coordinated machine. The RIGHT SIDE pumps blood into your lungs, while the LEFT SIDE pumps it back into your body
18. Celebrities who have had open heart surgery in most recent years include David Letterman, Bill Clinton, Robin Williams, Arnold Schwarenzegger, and Regis Philbin
19. You can control your heart health through diet, exercise, and managing your stress
20. Heart cancer is very rare because your heart cells stop diving early in life

CPR

photo cred: google

Have you ever been in a situation where you saw someone that needed CPR? Have you ever given someone CPR? Are you certified in CPR? CPR is not a scary joke. If you see someone just laying there on the ground, what do you do?

Learning CPR is something that you should probably learn. Why? Because according to American Heart Association there are 383,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually, and 88% of cardiac care arrests occur at home. Sudden cardiac arrests are not the same as heart attacks. Sudden cardiac arrests occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating.

You can save someone when performing CPR. How do you do CPR? Everyone knows that CPR is 30 pushes on the chest and 2 breaths and you keep doing that until medical professionals come. But there's more to than just that. At the American Heart Association website, under the CPR&ECC tab, you'll find multiple ways to learn more about CPR and how you can save someone.

American Heart Association/CPR

Raising Money/Donating

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With this blog about heart disease, you realize that there is a lot more that you can do to help. The American Heart Association is the number one organization to help cure heart disease. Every money that is raised or donated goes to the researchers to find ways to prevent any cardiovascular disease. Without them, people like me wouldn't be here today.

I feel this blog is very important because I want to show people the struggle of what it is like living with the #1 killer. There's only so much surgeons can do to save a heart. The heart is the #1 most important functioning part of the human body because it does so much. Without that, you're not here. Image would it be like having to go through so many procedures and surgeries to fix your heart and not having enough medical tools to do it. That was me. I was living on a machine while I was under operation, twice. It sounds scary when thinking about it, but that's what needed to happen. 

So think about that and all of the other stuff that to happen. Can you imagine yourself going through what I did or my parents? Without the money, there wouldn't be machines for me to live on, there wouldn't be me, there wouldn't be you. 

You can change that, you can save someone's life, possibly yours if you help raise money or donate to the American Heart Association. If you go to the American Heart Association website, you can find out how to help.
American Heart Association/Giving

Is Being Busy Heart Healthy?

photo cred: google

Are you a mom, a CEO, or just a person who lives their life busy? I know I'm a busy person. But is being busy heart healthy? Being busy is healthy because it works the brain, but there are ways to make it more heart healthy. Easy.

You can do a couple exercises like: push-ups, squats, and/or tricep dips.

I will give you 5 tips that I think will make you heart healthy.

Tip:1- Bring your own lunch to work or to school. You can pack whatever you want, it saves time and money, and inches off of your waist!! I think that's deal breaker right there. Healthy body=healthy heart

Tip:2- Plan all your meals ahead. This also saves you time as well. On a day that you have time, go through and figure out what your week is going to be like and plan your meals according to your day and what foods will help you be energized.

Tip:3- Try mixing it up a bit with a smoothie or a shake. Sometimes solid foods say that they are healthy, but they always have those hidden fats and sugars that gets you. If you are a morning person, a smoothie or a shake will make your life a lot more easier and faster and more healthier! It only takes about 20 seconds to make one and 20 seconds to rinse it out. Fast, simple, and easy.

Tip:4- Scheduling fitness time. If you have a little bit of freedom in your schedule, just do a simple workout here and there. I'm not talking about the whole sweat-sesh, but a simple squats, wall-sits, jumping jacks. Workouts like those.

Tip:5- Re-Evaluate your current priorities. This is where putting yourself first for once in a while. Stop being everything for everyone, you can't do that. It's not good for you, your body, or any relationship that you have. Make sure you have time for yourself so you can keep yourself healthy.


Those tips actually don't look hard at all. They look pretty easy. I mean, I do that and I'm a full-time college student, I work 3 jobs, and I am a Special Olympics coach for every sport. I have a lot on my hands, but it's worth it. It started to be a little hard because of the routine, but once I got into that routine, it became really easy and fun. Now I am living a more heart healthier life style.

Exercising

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Exercising. Exxeerrccisssiiinnnnggg. Not a huge fan. Actually, I don't mind exercising. I mean I'm not that gym junkie that makes odd pooping grunts when I lift. When I think of exercising I do think of running. "Run like the wind Bulls-eye!" -Woody, Toy Story. But I don't run. I hate running. Actually, I can't run. Whhaaattt??? Yeah, I was told by my cardiologist that I WASN'T ALLOWED to run. If I did, heeellllooooo hospital. I don't like going to hospitals, because one, the bills are high, and two, the waiting room sucks. So I do what I can to make sure I don't go to the hospital.

When I exercise, it's not the whole running and jogging and the whole shabang, because I can't. Usually I just do the basics: the elliptical as a warm-up for a mile, do my leg workouts, ride the bike for two miles, then do my arms and abs work-out. It is pretty simple. Simple enough that I take my own time. I am usually there for about two hours. Well, I try to be. 

Exercising is very good for the heart. Did you know that if you exercise or do something active for about 30 minutes everyday, it could save you in the long run? In order to keep your heart healthy, you have to make yourself healthy.  

Medical Bills

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Oh my, let me tell you about medical bills. Now I have been going to the hospital and to the doctors offices countless times that I can't even remember how many times. BUT those bills are high up there. From heart check-ups to surgeries, those can get pretty pricey. My dad always told me that I am worth more than $3 million from all of my hospital/doctor visits and surgeries I have had. Think about it, $3 million. Me, I am worth that much. That is $157, 894.74 just a year. That's about what an Anesthesiologist would make annually. And 2 of those 19 years, I only had surgeries, but both surgeries were four years apart. My cardiology check up alone is $978! Just for one check up. Imagine, an open heart surgery is $324,000. So double that amount, because I had two of those. Let me tell you, insurance is the best thing ever invented, because they paid literally almost all of it. If they didn't pay for it, I don't think my parents would have made it through life.

Now that I am past 18, the hospital and doctors offices don't take out money from my parents account anymore. I just got an email or a letter in the mail from the hospital saying that I owe this amount of money and let me tell you, that conversation with the hospital was not pretty. I felt bad for the lady because she had no idea what was going on. So I did feel bad for her, but it was just the fact that they decided to send me a letter a year and a half later telling me that I owe this amount of money by this deadline.  I still haven't figured out what I am going to do. They sent me a financial aid application, but I have not filled that out yet. I should probably do that since I'm  writing this post about medical bills..