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. 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 *longtime*
3. *Quit* smoking
4. *Control* weight
5. *Control* BP - 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 accumulates right from an early age (I'm currently
only 22) 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: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?
Ans: *Fruits and vegetables** *are the* best and oil** *is the* worst**.*
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: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that
caused due to gastric trouble?
Ans: Extremely difficult without ECG.
Qn: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst
youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 yrs of age having heart attacks and
serious heart problems.
Ans: Increased awareness has increased incidents. Also, sedentary
lifestyles, smoking, junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people
are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than
Europeans and Americans.
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/long term)?
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: How would you define junk food?
Ans : Fried food like Kentucky , McDonalds , Samosas, and even Masala Dosas.
Qn: You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the
reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junk food?
Ans: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians
are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.
Qn: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?
Ans: No.
Qn: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot
of forwarded e-mails on this)?
Ans: Yes. *Lie down comfortably* and put an *aspirin tablet* of any
description *under the tongue* and ask someone to take you to the nearest
coronary care unit without any delay and do not wait for the ambulance
since most of the time, the ambulance does not turn up.
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 relation 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: What are the modern anti-hypertensive drugs?
Ans: There are hundreds of drugs and your doctor will chose the right
combination for your problem, but my suggestion is to *avoid the drugs* and
*go for natural ways* of controlling blood pressure *by walk, diet to
reduce weight and changing attitudes towards lifestyles.
*
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. (Present Global census show
that the Percentage of heart disease in women has increased than in men )
Qn: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?
Ans: *Eat** a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise everyday, do
notsmoke and, go for health checkups if you are past the age of 30 (
once in
six months recommended)* ....
Please, *don’t hoard* knowledge.
It takes sharing of knowledge to discover and understand the world in which
we live.
* **Please send it to all your friends and relatives....... They might
benefit as well……!*
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not the original intended recipient. If you have erroneously received
this message, please delete it immediately and notify to the sender. The
recipient acknowledges that Emkay Global Financial Services Limited or
its group / subsidiaries and associated companies either jointly or
severally as the case may be (Emkay), are unable to exercise control or
ensure or guarantee the integrity of / over the contents of the
information contained in e-mail transmissions and further state that any
views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and
may not be binding on Emkay. This email is not directed to, or intended
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resident of or located in any locality, state, country or other
jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, availability or use
would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject Emkay
Global Financial Limited or its group companies to any registration or
licensing requirement within such jurisdiction. Specifically, this
document does not constitute an offer to or solicitation to any U.S.
person for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument or as an
official confirmation of any transaction to any U.S. person Unless
otherwise stated, this message should not be construed as official
confirmation of any transaction. All material presented in this Email,
unless specifically indicated otherwise, is under copyright to Emkay.
None of the material, nor its content, nor any copy of it, may be altered
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