Dr. Jim Surrell, Journal columnist

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours today. As you know, this is the day when we remember and hopefully share time with those who are special in our lives. February 14th has become an enjoyable long-standing holiday tradition. Here is a brief review of some Valentine’s Day facts. In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day gained popularly around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. Then, by about 1900, as printing technology improved, printed cards began to replace handwritten letters.

Of course, we all know that the figure of the heart is the symbol for Valentine’s Day. So, let’s review some interesting and impressive facts about the heart and this marvelous organ system. Also, let’s see what you can do for your own heart health, so you can continue to enjoy more Valentine’s Day celebrations in the future.

First, here are some very impressive facts about our heart and blood vessels. Obviously, the heart is considered to be a pump, and what a pump it is! Consider these medical facts. The average human pulse rate is about 72 beats per minute. Therefore, in a 30 day month, the average adult heart beats over 3 million times. So, in one year, our heart pumps about 38 million times. Of course, our heart is pumping the blood through your many blood vessels. Check this out. If you took all of the blood vessels out of an average human, and laid them end to end in a line, that line would be over 60,000 miles long!

Wow, our human heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) system is amazing. So what can we all personally do to take care of our heart and blood vessels? Well, here are just five choices that we can make that may well have a major positive impact on our heart heath.

1) Absolutely avoid tobacco, with no personal smoking, avoiding second-hand smoke, and also avoid using chewing tobacco. Every year in the USA there are many hundreds of thousands of deaths from heart disease and from strokes. Many of these deaths are proven to be from tobacco abuse.

2) Have your cholesterol checked and be sure to follow your physician’s recommendations to keep your cholesterol under control.

3) Persistent high blood pressure (hypertension) must be controlled to prevent damage to the heart and blood vessels. Recall that your heart is a pump and you do not want it working and pumping any harder than necessary. We all need to avoid high blood pressure and follow medical recommendations to keep our blood pressure in the normal range.

4) With diabetes, it is very important to carefully monitor and control your blood sugars, with proper diet, with recommended oral medications and/or insulin, and be sure to follow the recommendations of your health care provider. Know also that Type 2 diabetes can be dramatically improved, or even eliminated, with proper diet, weight loss, and exercise.

5) It is very important for the health of our heart and blood vessels to get some exercise, and be sure to discuss this with your health care provider. Moderate exercise can help us control our weight, reduce high blood pressure, lower high cholesterol and allow for better management of diabetes. It also reduces stress, which may also be a factor in heart disease. Walking is a great healthy exercise, and also a great way to spend some quality time together with family and friends.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Jim Surrell is the author of the best-selling SOS (Stop Only Sugar) Diet book and his new Joke Book, entitled “Laughter Is Good Medicine”. Dr. Jim’s website is sosdietbook.com.