(A blog post from my Journalism 824–Health and Science Writing Class, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Michigan State University under Dr. Jim Detjen, the person who trailed peoples lenses on the Three Mile Island controversy)
Heart is life. No one had captured this fact perfectly than London physician William Harvey who studied the systemic circulation of the heart in 1628. Of the heart he said, “Betwixt the visible and invisible, betwixt being and not being, it gave by its pulses a kind of representation of the commencement of life.”
The heart, that fist size organ that weighs about 250 to 350 grams and pumps oxygen and blood throughout the body, is a fascinating subject. From Galen to modern day scientists, the heart is weighed and dissected until membrane by membrane, vein by vein, it yielded before us its power and limitation. Like the winding rotor that relies on the movement of the wearer’s wrist in order to power wristwatches, the heart depends on how well its owner takes care of it so it can function normally. But that is not always the case.
Adult mortality in the United States (US), England, Canada and Wales is primarily attributed to heart diseases. In the US alone, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) cited that 631,636 people died from heart diseases in 2006. Specifically, coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease affecting Americans. In 2005, 445,687 people were reported to have died from it.
The scientific literature provides astounding amount of evidence connecting heart failure and lifestyle. For example, it was found that the occurrence of heart diseases in the US varies by ethnicity and geography. This strengthens the assumption that certain factors within groups, and attitudes, beliefs and practices among individuals are putting them at higher risk to heart diseases.
Thus, the American Heart Association (AHA), along with other federal health agencies and non-profit groups are campaigning vigorously for healthier lifestyles among adults and children. These efforts are centered on the promotion of preventive practices like proper nutrition, physical activity, weight and stress management, and smoking cessation. Studies have shown that reduction of cholesterol and blood pressure levels as a result of these preventive practices reduces the risk of developing or dying from heart disease, having a nonfatal heart attack, needing heart bypass surgery and angioplasty.
While these are very important preventive steps, we should not also forget the fact that while health behavior tends to be an individual responsibility, it is greatly shaped by the social forces found in one’s environment. Thus, as what the ecological perspective of health is advocating, it is important to examine interpersonal, community, policy and environmental factors that drive people’s health behaviors. How about the social relationship patterns, the availability/non-availability of community infrastructures and policies that allow or limit the individual to function healthfully? The sooner we recognize that health is a social phenomenon, the better we are at promoting positive health outcomes; the better we can protect our heart’s health.
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Heart Illustration from http://www.mynews.in/News/Health_Tip:_At_the_Heart_of_a_Stent_N33158.html
