I hope Mr. Breitbart rests in peace now. And that his 4 kids and wife will be comforted. It appears he had a heart attack or stroke, out for a walk, suddenly fell down. A stranger dialed 911. He was dead it seems when emergency help arrived. Again, may his people be comforted.
I’d just remind, even if it could cause a few people to awken sooner rather than later… that many people, esp men, but women too, are born with a weakness of one part of the body or another. But when it is the heart that is at issue, there are things to be avoided or deeply moderated if possible… otherwise too many, men especially, die in the prime of life.
One is weight. Only for this reason, though there are more than affect general health: fat packs around organs too, not just showing on the outside of the body in pillowing. (Sorry for the analogy but think of uncleaned fowl when cut open, chickens esp and the great gobbets of hard yellow fat wrapped around various internal parts. Then imagine the amount of that fat double, tripled, quadrupled, but the body cavity remaining the same size as before.) In human beings, the internal fat presses the space the internal organs need to expand into in order to be in best health possible. Ten or so pounds might not matter as much in a large person, as much as being overweight especially in chest and belly in front of the vital heart. Too many have died from just excessive weight, which has caused dangerous occlusion of breath, arteries and muscles.
Secondly, bodily exertion when there is already pressure from weight, (and sometimes mysteriously not, as in some runners and athletes) can be, note *can be* deadly, as the already squeezed heart tightens even more trying to pump and return blood to/from extremities and exertion that is sometimes ill-advisedly non-stop without adequate resting periods.
Thirdly, anger. Being angry, enraged, huffing and puffing about most everything, everyday, can be dangerous. For this reason: not even mentioning for the moment the hidden and occluded state of some persons’ arteries… anger causes the heart to clench, tightening the musculature of the body. The heart is a muscle.
Sustained anger weakens, we think at present, rather than strengthens the heart. However the person may think their rages, rants, upsets are righteous, the heart sees it differently… as being ambushed, put into sudden service without warning as though there is an emergency. The adrenals start spilling, heart rate can go sky high. But there is no life and death emergency. Just that the owner of the heart doesnt like someone or something. But the heart is forced to respond 911.
The heart appears to work best, no matter its physical condition as hale and hearty or somewhat to a lot beset…. if the body isnt fed things that turn to hard grease in the arteries, when the body is not fed/drunk in such a way so as to cause precipitous overweight esp with gut and chest fat deposits, when exercise is moderate with warm up and cool down and reasoned heart rate elevation intervals… and knowing that rages spill hormones and chemicals into the poor body that do it no good, but rather corrode its balances, thereby not leaving the heart relaxed and able to pace on its own.
I’d mention too that too much chest and belly fat also causes sleep apnea which also interferes, sometimes morbidly so, with oxygen to the heart and lungs. This extra burden each night, can cause heart distress not only at night, but overtaxed heart can falter during daytime too.
None of these are offered as blame, for we are all only human, and some like their pints to the point of excess, or smoke, or other things that can make the heart labor like a motor trying to drag too much weight for its horsepower –thus the engine begins to shudder, and eventually burn out its bearings.
I just offer these points as understanding (and there are many other points as well about heart health). In all, I would like men (and women) to have best chances to live to their majority, rather than to suddenly be cut down. I’d rather people live long, especially if they are decent-to-great parents, for their children’s sakes. To have a parent die young is such a laceration to their children.
Some decry those who overdose on drugs. I sometimes wonder if lack of self care, refusal to have mercy on one’s body and take good care of it, is just about the same, only by different means.
Again, this is not about Mr. Breitbart, just about an issue seemingly tangential to his death at such a young age, an issue that in our way too fastpaced culture, is evergreen for discussion and fact-sharing and encouragement to choose, even in baby steps, better, and best care of the body. Many pride themselves in being logical, yet are illogical about the care and feeding of their own bodies. This can be changed into cohesiveness across the board, mind AND body. The men and women of our world are worth becoming good and solid sentries in behalf of their own dependent bodies.
As I said, small steps are better than no steps at all. Remember in the jungle, the animals which make adaptations live the longest. Taking care of the body… and the heart… is an adaptation.
May you ever make new adaptations as you see fit. May you ever continue in best strength, health and endurance.