CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

The heart is an amazing organ. It beats approximately three billion times in the course of a lifetime and pumps millions of litres of blood through the blood vessels. Despite the fact that this system is so robust, with ageing it nevertheless become more and more susceptible to a number of disorders.

Pump and circulatory system of the blood

Seen from a mechanical point of view, the heart is a pump that moves approximately 7,000 litres of blood per day around the body of a reasonably fit person of average height. With the blood, nutrients, oxygen and neurotransmitters are transported to the various organs of the body.

The human brain, the organ with the greatest needs, claims the lion’s share of the blood, one fifth of the total volume, for itself alone. An average heart beats anything from 60 to 90 times a minute, which means that, by the time a person has reached the age of eighty, in most cases his/her heart has already completed between 2.5 and 3.8 billion beats.

The most common cardiovascular diseases

Disorders of the cardiovascular system, such as high blood pressure, coronary heart disease,
and cardiac insufficiency, are among the most frequently occurring illnesses, and rank as the number one cause of death in Germany. Obviously, prevention, early detection, and treatment are hugely important.