PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, April 17: Heart diseases are one of the leading causes of death around the world. And sometimes, without even giving any warning signs, these heart conditions have proved to be very critical. It has become very important to get your heart checked regularly.
A healthy heart is central to overall good health and following a heart-friendly lifestyle will prevent heart diseases while encompassing a well-balanced diet and taking care of external factors also contributes to keeping the heart-healthy.
In an interview with lagatar24.com, Dr Rakesh Kumar Choudhary of the CTVS department at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences said, “You can have a heart attack and not even get to know as it can be a silent heart attack which has no symptoms, minimal symptoms or even unrecognized symptoms and many people do not even get to know about it until weeks or months as the symptoms are minimal and one will not take them seriously at all as you may feel like you have flu or sore muscle in the chest while other symptoms could be jaw pain, tiredness, indigestion, chest pain, shortness of breath, cold sweats, light-headedness, nausea, vomiting and heartburn.”
Dr Rakesh listed 5 lifestyle choices that we need to let go of, not just for a healthy heart but for overall physical health and well-being in the long run which include:
- Excessive salt in the diet contributes to high blood pressure which is a major cause of heart disease, heart attack and congestive heart failure. Eating too much salt causes the body to keep or retain too much water, worsening the fluid build-up associated with heart failure. Adults should eat less than 6 grams of salt each day – that’s about one teaspoon. This includes the salt that is contained within readymade foods like bread, as well as the salt you add during cooking and at the table. Children should eat less salt than adults, according to their age.
- Lack of physical activity comes with great risks including high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and other heart-related problems. The simplest, positive change you can make to effectively improve your overall health is to start walking. A 30–40-minute brisk walk daily is flexible and boasts high success rates because people can stick with it.
- Excess alcohol is linked to a greater risk of high blood pressure, high levels of blood fats, and heart failure. In addition, the extra calories can lead to weight gain, a threat to heart health.
- Smoking increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, which include coronary heart disease and stroke. Smoking thus damages the lining of your arteries, leading to a build-up of fatty material (atheroma) which narrows the artery. This can cause angina, a heart attack or a stroke. The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces the amount of oxygen in your blood. This means your heart has to pump harder to supply the body with the oxygen it needs. It’s bad for passive smokers too.
- Stress can indirectly affect your heart. It is possible that stress could increase your blood pressure, make you overeat, exercise less and smoke more and thus increasing your chance of having a heart problem. Managing stress makes sense for your overall health. While it is impossible to live your life completely stress-free, it is possible to make some changes in one’s lifestyle, to reduce the harmful effects of stress on one’s heart.
- Take out time to relax, engage yourself in a hobby or a recreational fun activity, meditation and breathing exercises that can be good stress busters.
