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My aim is to make my readers aware of the basic workings of the heart and blood vessels. This will help them do the following:

• Prevent to a good extent major cardio vascular events.

• Be able to pick up early signs of something amiss.

• Get medical help early, as time is often critical for outcome of treatment.

To achieve the above, one needs to have some understanding of what makes the heart tick or should I say "not tick".

Heart is a very broad term that encompasses the following:

• Heart muscle

• The valves in the heart.

• The arteries that supply blood to the heart.

• The nerves that make it beat at a regular pace.

• The arteries/veins that supply blood to the whole body.

When disease affects any one of the above areas it may lead to:

• Heart failure i.e. breathlessness

• Valve malfunction

• Pain in the chest, left arm, jaw or back.

• Palpitation/giddiness/fainting spells.

• High blood pressure and/or swelling in the leg.

Some things one cannot control at present as our "genes" control them. But many can be affected by "Life Style", and that's what we will discuss.

Heart Muscles- Viral infections can affect this, so need to be adequately treated, quickly.

Valves- Childhood throat infections if not treated adequately can cause the valves to malfunction in later life causing breathlessness, fatigue and even loss of consciousness.

• supplying the heart are the ones that are very commonly affected and are most amenable to lifestyle changes. Those supplying the whole body lead to high blood pressure, leg pain and are also amenable to life style.

We will discuss these factors next time.