Show 11 1 let our motto be GOOD HEALTH BY DR LLOYD ARNOLD professor Profess ot of bacher and prevent vt ve med c ne un vers vets y of III no s college of medic medicine ne lj LIVING WITH A HEART AFTER 45 in illinois in the last five years ot every persons who died ot of t eart disease 86 were over forty five fhe years old this makes t dear clear that people over forty five years of age constitute the heart disease group the same proc esses that cause the ha hair r to turn gray the skin to become flabby and wrinkled also care cause the heart to grow old the heart of the individual around sixty years of age is probably his most im vital organ the sudden selz we ure of pain in the left chest through the left shoulder down the arm on the inner side with a sense of colstr action as if the chest were held in a vise and along with this a sense of suffocation and a feel ng of impend ing death these are the cardinal symptom of angina increased muscular effort usually is the exciting cause of these attacks al though sudden changes in weather may bring them on tha the attacks are many times brought about by spasms of the arteries which supply the heart muscle with blood the primary cause is exha exhaustion astion of the heart muscle in previous articles I 1 have discussed heart disease in relation to various age groups beginning with birth and ex tending to the middle age period de for of the heart at birth are re for the deaths chargeable to the he heart during the first year of life then bacterial infections begin to pla an important part as causes of heart disease during the second decade of life or adolescence we find a contina aaion of these infections but during the first twenty years there are rela lively few dead s from heart disease as compared to the total span of life of every persons nho die of heart hear t disease in illinois only one Is in the first decade of life and only two are in the second decade between the ages of twenty and thirty five live the death rate is four and during the next ten years that Is thirty five to forty five years we end approximately six deaths As we said before 80 per cent of the deaths from cardiac causes are in the age group past forty five the same figures would generally hold true for the other states this does not mean that infection of the heart Is so much more prevalent among jergons persons over forty five years but lut it docs does mean that the wear and tear on the heart due to previous in factions las I 1 as exceeded the limit corn com with the ordinary duties of life usually these older persons with heart disease have had a history of minor impairment of the heart for several years A heart attack should not lead one to be pessimistic it should be regard ed rather as a red signal and a request from a tired workout heart muscle for a much needed rest one should not become unduly excited but should con suit a physician to determine just what the heart can endure so that it will not be overtaxed to the point where it stops beating under intelligent and proper supervision this right way of living may mean only a slight change in the dally daily routine such as avoiding strena ous exercise or reducing the weight or abstaining from tobacco alcohol or such irritants it may be that complete rest in bed Is the only solution but this Is sel dom the case an active hard handwork har work dwork ln ing man or woman of fifty five or sixty in may ay actually be damaged by forced idleness in bed the worry and sleep will offset the value of such rest resl A gradual decrease in the work ing hours combined with relief from worries sleeplessness and ph ex ha haust lon will oftentimes do more to rest the heart than will complete idleness the treatment of heart disease however Is always individualistic and must be carried out under the direction of a physician who takes into consid oration all the factors involved usually the older individual with heart disease has in addition harden ing of the arteries and often a clency in kidney function tow now that medical knowledge and an easier way of living have increased our life ex pee pec taney tancy to a span of sixty bears ears the first forty years are proving the healthy bears ears after that we are III like e ly to show wear and tear and the degenerative diseases such as heart dis ease kidney disease and cancer be come real hazards the blood vessels of the brain may become so diseased and weakened that they break and ap follows it if we have damaged any of our im organs in our younger years we are pretty apt to reap the results in our older years when this organ has reached the hauts of its power of adapting itself to the needs of the body the heart normally beats 72 times a minute with a rest period in between each beat if it beats more often then the rest period is correspondingly cur tailed and to keep going the heart has to call on its resen reserve e strength we are born with just so much reserve force the person who uses his reserve before forty five may expect to watch his step afterward Q western newspaper colon union |