About Heart.com
Matters of the Heart
It's your body, and it continues to exist because of the Heart. Your heart is one of the most important organs in your body. It's the first organ created when cells are dividing in the very early stages of developement in the womb. Its a hard working organ and is a tad bit larger than the size of your fist. You cannot live or love without it.
The heart is a complex organ that which songs, poetry and stories have been sung, told and written about. The Chinese believe it's the center of happiness and the Egyptians thought that intellect and emotions arose from the 
heart. The Greeks believed the heart was the throne of the spirit. In the Greek city of Cyrene, a colony was known for using a plant called Silphium which creates heart-shaped seed pods. Silphium is known for it's medicinal properties, and it was possibly also used as an herbal contraceptive. The idea is this gave us the heart shape that is associated with love.
Your heart -- You cannot live without it. Matters of the heart have baffled mankind since the beginning of time. The heart is a complex organ, not only anatomically, but a part of our entire essence. A love-torn heart can be painful, and so can a heart attack. And, then there are countless stories written about how when older couples loose their lifetime partners thru death, the other dies not long after - is that truly a broken heart? or is it a broken heart? Studies have shown a family death literally can lead to broken hearts in the form of increasing your risk for heart attacks. The emotional trauma can trigger the release of stress hormones that temporarily stun the heart. The symptoms can mimic the symptoms of a heart attack but this typically goes away within a few days with rest and with lots of hugs.
So, laugh until it hurts. A hearty laugh -- the kind that sends you into tears. Laughter does so much more than warm the soul or tickle your fancy. Researchers have proven a hearty laugh causes the lining of blood vessel walls called endothelium to relax, increasing blood flow for up to 40 minutes after the laughing attack. The reverse happens when the endothelium is damaged, which is the narrowing of blood vessels and it can eventually lead to cardiovascular diseases. So Laugh, laugh out Loud!, and enjoy each moment - laugh for the heart.
Did you know the average human heart will beat 2.5 billion times; are you making the most of your 2.5 billion beats?
Did you also know that in under a minute, your heart pumps blood to every cell in your body? And within 24 hrs, all those heart beats move about 2,000 gallons of oxygen-rich blood through about 50,000 miles of branching blood vessels linking to our organs and body parts. An Amazing job for a fist-sized muscle, no?
Heart.com is here to help you better understand how your heart works, what it can tell you about your overall health and how to
better protect it from the
most common cause of death in the United States: Heart disease.
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