To preserve your cardiovascular system, good habits should be taken from an early age, in particular to protect the endothelium, which is the protective varnish inside the arteries.
Doctor Nicolas Danchin, cardiologist at the George Pompidou European hospital, deciphers the mechanisms of the heart on Europe 1, Monday afternoon.
INTERVIEW
Good habits, from an early age.
The heart is an essential organ for human life.
Its double pump system connected to the veins, arteries and vessels, supplies all the organs of the body, in order to ensure their proper functioning.
But the vessels are fragile and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world.
According to the WHO, 17.7 million deaths are attributable to these disorders, or 31% of global mortality.
To take care of his cardiac system, Doctor Nicolas Danchin, cardiologist at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital, recalls on Europe 1 the mechanisms of the heart, the traps to avoid and the good habits to adopt.
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A varnish to protect
"We know both toxic behaviors and beneficial behaviors," he says at the microphone of Mélanie Gomez in
Sans Rendez-vous
.
"Artery disease will take years, if not decades, to develop. And it starts very early in life, in adolescence or young adulthood. If we can develop good habits to that moment, throughout life we will keep them more or less. "
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Arteries can be compared to garden hoses, made up of several walls, decrypts the cardiologist.
One of them in particular acts as a protective varnish against toxic substances carried in the blood: the endothelium.
"All the attacks of this varnish will promote the fact that it will become more porous and that the cholesterol will be deposited inside the wall. It will form plaques which will then narrow or even block the arteries", explains Nicolas Danchin, thus describing atherosclerosis.
"These are plaques essentially made up of lipids at the start, of fat, and then there is an inflammation which is created and which comes to maintain this mechanism".
Pay attention to diet and avoid tobacco
Several factors can increase the probability of developing these cardiovascular disorders: a hereditary factor (cardiac incident in the family before the age of 50 or 60) or even aging, which leads to stiffening of the arteries.
High blood pressure, also known as the "silent killer" because symptoms are not always obvious, also has a bad effect on the arteries.
"With each heartbeat, blows strike the arteries. The lower your blood pressure, the less the blows. The higher the blood pressure, the more it will hit hard and tire the vessels", explains Dr. Nicolas Danchin, which recalls the need to check your blood pressure regularly.
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But other factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease depend on our bad habits, such as diet or tobacco.
Eating too fat, too sweet or too salty promotes the appearance of fat, toxic for the endothelium.
And smoking has long-term and short-term effects, explains Dr Nicolas Danchin.
"Tobacco carries toxic substances that will attack the varnish and this will cause inflammation of the latter, which becomes more porous," he says.
"In addition to that, it promotes the formation of clots."
"If you smoke twenty cigarettes, you have more risks than if you smoke ten, than five or only one. One is more than zero", underlines the cardiologist.
Finally, the doctor also recalls the instant risk to the hearts of smokers.
A rare disorder, but which nevertheless exists: the appearance of spasms on the arteries.
"They will contract and at that time there is a risk that they will become blocked," he says.
Adopt an active lifestyle
An active lifestyle also helps fight cardiovascular risks.
"When you have a physically active life, your whole system will get used to it, you will develop muscles, they will be stronger and they will need to work less for the same effort: it rests the heart, in a way", explains the cardiologist.
"Physical exercise will also secrete certain numbers of substances beneficial to the endothelium and this will counterbalance the harmful effects of other attacks."
No panic for the less athletic, however: the most important being consistency. "I don't like sport", jokes Doctor Nicolas Danchin. "On the other hand, I love to walk, so I walk a lot. In the sea, I like to swim. When I take the metro, I hardly ever take an escalator. It's not much, but it's enough. So that the machine is well maintained. The main thing is to try to understand that you have to integrate regular physical activity every day. You have to find something that suits you, "he concludes.