The Nome daily nugget., 1937-08-20

feet ions and Is only a continuation of the same causes of death that affect the heart during adolescence. After thirty years of age the heart diseases belong more and more to the chronic variety and are usually heart failures due to the ex- haustion of previously damaged heart.
 Anyone running distance finds that his speed decreases because he is tired. He automatically slows up and rests. If he starts running again before hay ing had complete rest, he finds that he cannot run the same distance as before. This is crude comparison of just what the heart does when it is impaired or diseased.
 Anyone with a disease of the heart cannot do the physical work of the in- dividual with normal heart
 Muscular work demands strenuous pumping action on the part of the heart during the period of exertion. The patient with chronic heart dis ease finds it difficult to rest his heart. It is in continuous state of eXhaus tiOn. The whole problem of the pre- vention of death from heart disease is prevention of exhaustion of the heart muscle.
 During adolescence and young adult life the exhaustion of the heart is usu ally due to an infection of the lining of the muscle wall of the heart itself In other words, it Is local bacterial growth that causes a poisoning of the heart muscle and uses up the energy that should be devoted to resting and reserve force. Older individuals, those past forty and forty-five. who suffer from chronic heart disease may not have any bacteria growing in the heart but have damaged hearts due to preyi- ous history or past experiences of bac- terial growthS in the heart. If the heart muscle has been damaged and so has scar tissue, the heart will nat urally have less pumping force and it will try to pump faster in order to carry the same load. This decreases it's reserve power, and as the reserve power decreases, the heart goes still faster. Finally the beat becomes ir- regular. A person with such heart is facing heart failure unless he can in some way rest the heart muscle The whole system of treatment of heart disease is based upon the pre- vention of the dissipation of the re- serve force of the heart and the con- sequent failure of action.
 You can probably recall that during your adolescent period of life, after running race or doing some other strenuous exercise, you had to stop because you became short of breath, and you had a tight feeling in the chest or even slight pains on the left side of the chest. After few minutes rest, these symptoms passed off and you could again take part. This Is a typical example of cardiac exhaustion, and 1t is the way some of the heart diseases of adult life began. There is a tight feeling in the chest. shortness of breath, exhaustion, tired feeling. and even pain around the heart region.
 A beginning heart attack should be a red light. You should go to phys- clan right after the first attack to see just why your heart is exhausted. The average individual, however, doesn't do this, but continues working and may work for ten or fifteen years with in creased frequency of the mild heart attacks. Then when he ultimately does go to a physician, his heart is so ex- hausted that only prolonged rest in bed will offer any relief at all.
 A person with heart disease who knows the limits his heart will stand, can live happy and useful life by. ad- justing himself and his daily duties to his heart. Emphasis should also be placed upon the use of tobacco, alcohol and sometimes coffee, as irritants to the heart under certain conditions.
 Sore throats, head colds, sinusitis, give off toxins that irritate the heart, make 1t go faster and increase its load. Certain weather conditions, par ticularly during the fall, winter and spring months, may irritate the heart muscle and cause increased frequency of heart attacks.
 The heart has wonderful power of adaptation. We can use this power to change our lives so that we can favor an exhausted heart. This will prevent heart failure.
 c. Western Newspaper Union