Monthly Archives: April 2014
181.WHAT IS BLOOD PRESSURE?
The heart, as we have learned, is a pump that sends the blood circulating through our body. The pumping action takes place when the left ventricle of the heart contracts. This forces the blood out into the arteries, which expand to receive the oncoming blood.
But the arteries have a muscular lining which resists this pressure, and thus the blood is squeezed out of them into the smaller vessels of the body. Blood pressure is the amount of pressure on the blood as a result of the heart’s pumping and the resistance of the arterial walls.
180.WHAT IS AMNESIA?
Every now and then, you read in the papers about a person who has “forgotten” who he is. He remembers nobody and nothing from his past, not even his name. We say this person is suffering from amnesia.
We all get emotionally upset from time to time. We feel hurt, angry, disappointed or frightened for one reason or another. When we feel such emotional pain, we want to do something about it.
179.WHAT CAUSES PEOPLE TO FAINT?
In a play or movie, a hero or heroine sometimes faints upon hearing bad news or when suddenly frightened. We usually associate fainting with an event of this kind. But the fact is that fainting can be the result of many situations.
People may faint because of confinement in a close and poorly ventilated room, or because of hunger, fatigue, severe pain, emotional shock, or for many other reasons. The immediate cause of fainting is an insufficient supply of blood to the brain.
