Heart

All You Need is Love

Laurie Kelley February 13, 2022

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” – Charles M. Schulz, Cartoonist

It’s Valentine’s Day (almost)! And since HemaBlog is about anything to do with blood and hemophilia, why not include the heart? The heart is associated with our emotions–probably because we feel it beat fast when we are afraid… or in love. I confess when I met actor Paul Newman, my heart rate shot up to about 200 bpm! And I told him so!

Here are some fascinating facts about this important organ*:

  1. The heart beats about 115,000 times and pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every day.
  2. An electrical system (a cardiac conduction system) controls the rhythm of your heart.
  3. The heart can continue beating even when it’s disconnected from the body.
  4. The first open-heart surgery occurred in 1893. It was performed by Daniel Hale Williams, who was one of the few black cardiologists in the United States at the time.
  5. The earliest known case of heart disease was identified in the remains of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummy.
  6. The fairy fly, a kind of wasp, has the smallest heart of any living creature.
  7. The American pygmy shrew is the smallest mammal, but has the fastest heartbeat at 1,200 beats per minute (which actually felt like mine when I met Paul Newman).
  8. The giraffe has a lopsided heart, with their left ventricle being thicker than the right. This is because the left side has to get blood up the giraffe’s long neck to reach their brain.
  9. Most heart attacks happen on Mondays.
  10. The beating sound of your heart is caused by the valves of the heart opening and closing.
  11. Broken heart syndrome has similar symptoms as a heart attack. But a heart attack is from heart disease and broken heart syndrome  is caused by a rush of stress hormones from an emotional or physical stress event.
  12. Heart cells stop dividing, which means heart cancer is extremely rare.

And where did the Valentine shape come from, that represents the heart? It’s believed to come from the siplhium’s seedpod. It looks like the modern Valentine’s heart. The seedpod’s role with love and sex may have been what first helped associate the symbol. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

*Source: www.healthline.com

Have a (Healthy) Heart!

Laurie Kelley February 14, 2021

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day associated with celebrating love, affection and romance. The symbol of Valentine’s Day? A heart. Well, not an anatomical heart, but a rendering of it. The symbol we use now was popular as far back as the Middle Ages, and was popular during the Renaissance,  as seen in art depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus. By the 18th century, it was being used in Valentine Day cards. The origins of St. Valentine’s Day (to be specific) are found in Christian and even Roman tradition.

The heart is often associated with feelings: we describe someone as being “all heart,” having a “big heart,” or being “heartless.” Young children, often unaware of the contents of their own bodies, can still draw a heart (and a stomach!) when asked to draw what’s inside of them. Feeling the heart beat, they know they are alive. (Feeling their stomach hurt, they know they are hungry) Seeing themselves bleed, they worry,  mainly about their heart not working. They learn that the heart pumps blood; when they see a bleed, they may fear bleeding to death. Especially if they have hemophilia!

So we have to be careful when we educate our children about their heart, blood and hemophilia. My book Teach Your Child about Hemophilia will help! (Order here)

And the heart has an interesting connection in hemophilia beyond making our blood travel about the body. Sarah Aldrich reported in HemAware, the magazine of the National Hemophilia Foundation, that in a six-state study of more than 3,400 men with hemophilia, CDC investigators found that after HIV and intracranial bleeds, the third most common cause of death was heart disease. This was comparable to nonhemophilic men. Hemophilia does not give you a Valentine’s Day get-out-of-jail-free card just for having hemophilia!

Subsequent studies confirmed this. Atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease… all show up in older men with hemophilia. Unlike hemophilia, these are linked to lifestyle. Stress, diet, smoking and obesity surely have a negative impact on heart health.

Be nice to you heart on Valentine’s Day. Refuse the chocolate! (I did) Start thinking of ways to exercise safely; eliminate high sodium and processed foods; cut down on alcohol; stop smoking. Especially stop smoking! And for your little ones with hemophilia, learn how they understand how the body works. It might be quite different than what you think! When they give you a Valentine’s Day card, it might be a good idea to get a conversation going about hearts, health and hemophilia!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

https://hemaware.org/life/heart-health-and-hemophilia 2.6.13

HemaBlog Archives
Categories