Here was a chat, arranged by WIPRO for
its employees, with Dr.Devi
Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya (Heart Specialist) Bangalore.
The transcript of the chat is given below. Useful for everyone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qn: What are the five 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 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: Can
yoga prevent heart ailments?
Ans: Yoga helps.
Qn: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?
Ans: Best food is fruits worst are oil.
Qn: Which oil is better - gingili, groundnut,
sunflower, saffola, olive?
Ans: All oils are bad; the so-called best oil company has the largest
marketing budget.
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, put 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, edentary 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 emails 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.
Qn: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?
Ans : Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food,
exercise everyday, do not smoke and, go for a health checkup if you are past the
age of 30 for at least once in two yrs. And work very hard and Enjoy ur
Life...
its employees, with Dr.Devi
Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya (Heart Specialist) Bangalore.
The transcript of the chat is given below. Useful for everyone.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qn: What are the five 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 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: Can
yoga prevent heart ailments?
Ans: Yoga helps.
Qn: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?
Ans: Best food is fruits worst are oil.
Qn: Which oil is better - gingili, groundnut,
sunflower, saffola, olive?
Ans: All oils are bad; the so-called best oil company has the largest
marketing budget.
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, put 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, edentary 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 emails 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.
Qn: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?
Ans : Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food,
exercise everyday, do not smoke and, go for a health checkup if you are past the
age of 30 for at least once in two yrs. And work very hard and Enjoy ur
Life...
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