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World Heart Day 2014: Celebrate this year’s theme,
‘Creating heart-healthy environments’
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10 simple steps
1. Healthy food intake - Eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day and avoid saturated fat. Beware of processed foods, which often contain high levels of salt.
2. Get active & take heart - Even 30 minutes of activity can help to prevent heart attacks and strokes and your work will benefit too.
3. Say no to tobacco - Your risk of coronary heart disease will be halved within a year and will return to a normal level over time.
4. Maintain a healthy weight - Weight loss, especially together with lower ed salt intake, leads to lower blood pressure. High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for stroke and a major factor for approximately half of all heart disease and stroke.
5. Know your numbers - Visit a healthcare professional who can measure your blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels, together with waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index (bmi). Once you know your overall risk,you can develop a specific plan of action to improve your heart health.
6. Limit your alcohol intake - Restrict the amount of alcoholic drinks that you consume. Excessive alcohol intake can cause your blood pressure to rise and your weight to increase.
7. Insist on a smoke-free environment
Demand a tobacco ban - ensure your workplace is 100% smoke-free
Support the adoption of smoking - cessation services encourage your employer to provide help to those wanting to quit tobacco
8. Bring exercise to the workplace - Include physical activity in your working schedule - cycle to work if this is possible, take the stairs, exercise or go for a walk during your lunch breaks, and encourage others to do so too
9. Choose healthy food options- Ask for healthy food at your work canteen, or find nearby cafes or restaurants that serve healthy meals
10. Encourage stress-free moments -whilst stress has not been shown to be a direct risk fact or for heart disease and stroke, it is related to smoking, excessive drinking and unhealthy eating, which are risk factors for heart disease.
- Take time for lunch away from your workplace to get some fresh air
- Have regular breaks during the day - try stretching or exercising for 5 minutes twice a day
Heart attack in young and middle-aged Indians
Indians have one of the highest rates of coronary artery disease in the world. Indians also tend to get heart disease 5-10 years earlier. This article tells you why.
A contributing factor: The junk food culture
What is a heart attack?
A heart attack, known as a myocardial infarction in medical terms, occurs when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood to a coronary artery. Coronary arteries are blood vessels, which supply blood to the heart muscle. This interruption of blood flow to the muscular wall of the heart causes that part of the wall to become ‘damaged and destroyed’ and stop pumping blood.
Why Indians are at a higher risk
Indians have one of the highest rates of coronary artery disease in the world. This rate is thrice that of a Caucasian living in the US. As a result, Indians get coronary artery disease 5-10 years earlier than Caucasians and the disease is typically more aggressive. This results in Indians between the age group of 35-65 being the most affected, thus presenting a major strain on the productive workforce as the “younger” working population is the one at risk. Another significant reason that renders us Indians vulnerable is the fact that we have narrower arteries than our Western counterparts.
Various factors that contribute to higher rate of heart attacks include:
§ Urbanization of rural areas
§ Large-scale migration of rural population to urban areas
§ Increase in sedentary lifestyle due to hectic work schedules
§ Abdominal obesity (belly fat)
§ Metabolic syndrome
§ Diabetes and high blood pressure
§ Inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables
§ Increased use of fried, processed and junk food, owing to the fast food culture
§ Increase in tobacco usage
§ Poor awareness and control of coronary artery disease risk factors
§ Low HDL-cholesterol (good cholesterol levels)
§ Genetic predisposition
Indians will require specific lower cut-offs and stricter goals for treatment of various risk factors than is currently recommended for western populations, one example of this being practiced is: The upper limit for BMI (BODY MASS INDEX) that decides whether an individual is considered obese has been lowered from 25 to 23 for Asians, as they are at a higher risk of obesity and cardiopulmonary arrests at marginally high body mass indexes.
A strategy involving prevention of cardiovascular diseases long before their onset will be more cost-effective than providing interventions at a stage when the disease has already set in.
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