A chat with Dr. Devi Shetty. Heart Specialist, Bangalore.

[Guest guest]

Dear Health Conscious Members of TBP,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

I am posting the below reproduced health related conversation, which

I have received from a different source, to help you take necessary

precautions. I hope you all will be benefited by it.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

=========

 

 

A chat with Dr. Devi Shetty

Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Tue May 8, 2007 7:35 pm (PST)

 

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 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: 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: 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 health checkup s if you are past the age of 30 (

once in six months recommended) ...

 

Send it to all your nearest and dearest .....which should be

many........ ..

 

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Understanding human nature is the highest knowledge, and only by

knowing it can we know God. It is also a fact that the knowledge of

God is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing God can we

understand human nature.