HAVE A HEALTHY HEART. DR. DEVI SHETTY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS.
HOW TO HAVE A HEALTHY HEART. DR. DEVI SHETTY QUESTIONS. & ANSWERS
Question: What are the thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?
Answer: 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. 3. Quit smoking
4. 4. Control weight
5. 5. Control blood pressure and sugar
6. Q: Is eating non-vegetarian food (fish) good for the heart? A: No
7. Q: It’s still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective? A: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.
8. Q: Are heart diseases hereditary? A: Yes
9. Q What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to de-stress? A: Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection in everything in life.
10. Q: Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a healthy heart? A: Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigue and injury to joints
11. Q: Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases? A: Extremely rare.
12. Q: 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? A: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.
Q: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart ? A: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your body’s enzyme release for digestion gets confused.
13. Q: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines? A: Control diet, walk and eat walnut.
14. Q: Can yoga prevent heart ailments? A: Yoga helps.
15. Q: Which is the best and worst food for the heart? A: Fruits and vegetables are the best, and the worst is oil.
16. Q: Which oil is better - groundnut, sunflower, olive? A: All oils are bad .
17. Q: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific test? A: Routine blood test to ensure that sugar and cholesterol are ok. Check BP, and go in for a Treadmill test after an echo.
18. Q: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack? A: 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.
19. Q: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that caused due to gastric trouble? A: Extremely difficult without ECG.
20. Q: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems among youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 years of age having heart attacks and serious heart problems. A: 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.
21. Q: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy? A: Yes.
22. Q: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a time we have to stay late in the night in office. Does this affect our heart ? What precautions would you recommend? A: When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.
23. Q: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)? A: Yes, most drugs have some side-effects. However, modern anti- hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.
24. Q: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks? A: No.
25. Q: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease? A: No.
26. Q: 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? A: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and, unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.
27. Q: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension? A: No.
28. Q: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot of forwarded emails on this)? A: 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.
29. Q: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to heart problems? A: No. But it is ideal to have a normal hemoglobin level to increase your exercise capacity.
30. The writer DR. DEVI SHETTY is a heart specialist at Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore. The article is based on a chat with him arranged by WIPRO for its employees more
Question: What are the thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?
Answer: 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. 3. Quit smoking
4. 4. Control weight
5. 5. Control blood pressure and sugar
6. Q: Is eating non-vegetarian food (fish) good for the heart? A: No
7. Q: It’s still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective? A: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.
8. Q: Are heart diseases hereditary? A: Yes
9. Q What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to de-stress? A: Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection in everything in life.
10. Q: Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a healthy heart? A: Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigue and injury to joints
11. Q: Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases? A: Extremely rare.
12. Q: 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? A: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.
Q: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart ? A: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your body’s enzyme release for digestion gets confused.
13. Q: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines? A: Control diet, walk and eat walnut.
14. Q: Can yoga prevent heart ailments? A: Yoga helps.
15. Q: Which is the best and worst food for the heart? A: Fruits and vegetables are the best, and the worst is oil.
16. Q: Which oil is better - groundnut, sunflower, olive? A: All oils are bad .
17. Q: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific test? A: Routine blood test to ensure that sugar and cholesterol are ok. Check BP, and go in for a Treadmill test after an echo.
18. Q: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack? A: 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.
19. Q: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that caused due to gastric trouble? A: Extremely difficult without ECG.
20. Q: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems among youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 years of age having heart attacks and serious heart problems. A: 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.
21. Q: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy? A: Yes.
22. Q: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a time we have to stay late in the night in office. Does this affect our heart ? What precautions would you recommend? A: When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.
23. Q: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)? A: Yes, most drugs have some side-effects. However, modern anti- hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.
24. Q: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks? A: No.
25. Q: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease? A: No.
26. Q: 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? A: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and, unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.
27. Q: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension? A: No.
28. Q: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot of forwarded emails on this)? A: 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.
29. Q: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to heart problems? A: No. But it is ideal to have a normal hemoglobin level to increase your exercise capacity.
30. The writer DR. DEVI SHETTY is a heart specialist at Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore. The article is based on a chat with him arranged by WIPRO for its employees more
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Ayesha, Thank you very much for finding the post useful. Appreciate it very much. Regards more
Aug 08
Mr. Chandra, thanks for hand-picking these useful posts. Most of them are interesting to read :) more
Aug 08
Dear Mrs. Chhaya, Thank you very much for finding my post "HELPFUL". It is my pleasure to help all who can benefit from these posts. With Best Regards Raja Chandra more
Aug 08
Very helpful question answer session indeed. Thank you Mr. Chandra for posting such useful articles. more
Aug 08
