Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 21: Three out of four heart attacks in young people could be prevented if they closely follow healthy lifestyle rules which include not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, doing at least 40- 60 minute moderate intensity aerobic activity five days a week, watching no more than seven hours of TV each week, having a maximum of one drink per day and sticking to a healthy diet.
“The rules could help young people in their 30s and 40s beat heart disease”, said Head, Department of Cardiology, Government Medical College and Superspeciality Hospital (GMC&SSH) Jammu Dr. Sushil Sharma during an interaction with people in Guru Nanak Mission Hospital on the Gurudwara road in Nanak Nagar area of Jammu city.
“Heart attack patients were traditionally older than 40 years of age but in the last decade we have seen more and more young adults,” said Dr Sharma. Leading a team of young and bright doctors, Dr. Sushil said lifestyles of young adults have changed dramatically in recent years which has led to an increase in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) including heart attacks.
“Smoking, physical inactivity and stress are all big problems,” said Dr. Sushil. He maintained that the Common CAD manifestation like stable angina ,acute Coronary syndrome and sudden cardiac death and heart failure are more common in younger generations.
“Smoking is a very big issue in these young patients,” said Dr. Sushil. “We normally get eight out of ten young heart attack patients who smoke too much. Nearly one in five suffers because of obesity and many others have heart attacks due to unhealthy levels of blood lipids.”
“Lifestyles of young adults in India are unrecognisable to those of previous generation,” he added. “When I was a student we played sports and cycled but now young people are very sedentary. They are glued to their computers, mobile phones and social media. And there are huge numbers of smokers,” said the HoD.
He said “Diets have also changed, with more young adults eating high fat and trans fatty acids, low fibre diets that include fast food. Coupled with low physical activity, it has led to rising levels of obesity and abnormal lipid levels in the blood. Young people are under more pressure today than they were 20 years ago since they face a lot of competition for jobs and need to do well in their studies.” He warned that lifestyle changes were urgently needed to curb the growth of heart attacks in young adults.
The team of doctors led by HOD Cardiology Dr. Sushil Sharma included Dr. Mohi Kalsotra, Dr. Dhaneshwar Kapoor, Dr Anitipal Singh and Dr. Anchit Singh. Paramedics and Volunteers who were part of the team included Kashmiri Lal, Kamal Kishore, Rajeev Vohra , Gaurav Sharma, Vikas Kumar, Mohan Krishan and Aman gupta.
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