Cardiovascular changes in aging and age-related heart disease

Nurse Speech to Group of Residents in a Large Independent Living Facility

The information addressed today in this speech are those involving the body's regulation of the correct numbers and ratios of blood cells and how blood pressure homeostasis is achieved as well as age-related changes to the heart including coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and myocardial infarction.

Homeostatis and the Body's Balancing Act

The work of Vikrant and Tiwan (nd) report that studies on the population indicate that blood pressure is a continuous variable and there is really not a line that divides normal and abnormal values. However, there is a point of balance also called internal equilibrium and this is known as homeostasis. This state of balance describes how the human body reacts to certain changes. This can be viewed by picturing a set of scales in which coins are poured in unevenly with one side heavier than the other. The result is that one side falls because the scale is not balanced. The body behaves in the same manner although in a more complex way than this example. The human body changes constantly and this means the body requires a great number of small adjustments each and every second as the body received new input that puts it off balance.

The body's imbalance may manifest itself in various ways through problems with the kidneys, heart, or blood pressure as well as in a variety of ways. When one of the systems of the body becomes ill or damaged the body as a whole experiences am imbalance as homeostasis can be viewed as the perfect balanced state of the human body. The body comes under threat when processes like blood pressure or blood sugar levels are off indicating that there is a medical condition underlying these problems. Toxins, when introduced into the body's bloodstream may disrupt homeostasis.

Age-Related Heart Problems

The second area of today's speech is that addressing the age-related heart problems that can occur in older people. One of the age-related heart problems experienced by older people is that of congestive heart failure (CHF) which is the heart's inability to provide sufficient pump action for distribution of blood flow in meeting the body's needs. Conditions related to heart failure include cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction which is heart attack and cardiomyopathy which is a condition relating to problems with the heart muscle.

Symptoms

Heart failure can result in various symptoms that include (1)shortness of breath, (2) swelling in the legs and (3) intolerance to exercise.