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Heartline Magazine July - September 2007
GOOD SOLID REMINDERS
A chat with Dr.Devi Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya (Heart
Specialist), Bangalore, was arranged by WIPRO for its employees.
The transcript of the chat is given below.
The information is
useful for everyone.
Qn: What are the thumb
rules for a layman to take care of his heart ?
Ans:
1. Diet - Less of carbohydrate, more of
protein, less oil
2. Exercise - Half an hour's walk, at least five days a week;
avoid lifts and avoid
sitting for a long time
3. Quit smoking.
4. Control weight.
5. Control blood pressure and sugar.
Qn: Is eating non-veg
food (fish) good for the heart?
Ans: No
Qn: It's still a grave
shock to hear that some apparently healthy person gets a cardiac
arrest. How do we understand it in perspective?
Ans: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend
everyone past the age of 30
to undergo routine health checkups.
Qn: Are heart diseases
hereditary?
Ans: Yes.
Qn: What are the ways
in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to
de-stress?
Ans: Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for
perfection in everything in life.
Qn: Is walking better
than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a
healthy heart?
Ans: Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early
fatigue and injury to
joints .
Qn: You have done so
much for the poor and needy. What has inspired you to do so?
Ans: Mother Theresa, who was my patient.
Qn: Can people with
low blood pressure suffer heart diseases?
Ans: Extremely rare.
Qn: Does cholesterol
accumulate right from an early age or do you have to worry about
it only after you are above 30 years of age?
Ans: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.
Qn: How do irregular
eating habits affect the heart?
Ans: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and
your body's enzyme release for digestion gets confused.
Qn: How can I control
cholesterol content without using medicines?
Ans: Control diet, walk and eat walnut.
Qn: Can yoga prevent
heart ailments?
Ans: Yoga helps.
Qn: Which is the best
and worst food for the heart?
Ans: Fruits and vegetables are the best and the worst is oil.
Qn: Which oil is
better - groundnut, sunflower, olive?
Ans: All oils are bad.
Qn: What is the
routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific
test?
Ans: Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok.
Check BP, treadmill test after
an echo.
Qn: What are the first
aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?
Ans: Help the person into a sleeping position, place an aspirin
tablet under the tongue with a sorbitrate tablet if available,
and rush him to a coronary care unit since the maximum casualty
takes place within the first hour.
Qn: Is it possible for
a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet
be
perfectly healthy?
Ans: Yes.
Qn: Marriages within
close relatives can lead to heart problems for the child. Is it
true?
Ans : Yes, co-sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and
you may not have a software engineer as a child.
Qn: Many of us have an
irregular daily routine and many a times we have to stay late
nights in office. Does this affect our heart? What precautions
would you recommend?
Ans: When you are young, nature protects you against all these
irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the
biological clock.
Qn: Will taking
anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short /longterm)?
Ans: Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern
anti-hypertensive drugs
are extremely safe.
Qn: Will consuming
more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?
Ans: No.
Qn: Are asthma
patients more prone to heart disease?
Ans: No.
Qn: Does consuming
bananas help reduce hypertension?
Ans: No.
Qn: Do, in any way,
low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to heart
problems?
Ans: No. But it is ideal to have normal hemoglobin level to
increase your exercise capacity.
Qn: Sometimes, due to
the hectic schedule we are not able to exercise. So, does
walking while doing daily chores at home or climbing the stairs
in the house, work as a substitute for exercise?
Ans: Certainly. Avoid sitting continuously for more than half an
hour and even the act of getting out of the chair and going to
another chair and sitting helps a lot.
Qn: Is there a
relationship between heart problems and blood sugar?
Ans: Yes. A strong relationship, since diabetics are more
vulnerable to heart attacks than non-diabetics.
Qn: What are the
things one needs to take care of after a heart operation?
Ans: Diet, exercise, drugs on time, Control cholesterol, BP,
weight.
Qn: Are people working
on night shifts more vulnerable to heart disease when compared
to day shift workers?
Ans: No.
Qn: Does dispirin or
similar headache pills increase the risk of heart attacks?
Ans: No.
Qn: Why is the rate of
heart attacks more in men than in women?
Ans: Nature protects women till the age of 45.
Qn: How can one keep
the heart in a good condition?
Ans: Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise every day, do
not smoke and, go for health checkups if you are past the age of
30 (once in six months recommended).
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