Sansad TV Perspective: Heart Disease Among Youth

In the series Sansad TV Perspective, we bring you an analysis of the discussion featured on the insightful programme ‘Perspective’ on Sansad TV, on various important topics affecting India and also the world. This analysis will help you immensely for the IAS exam, especially the mains exam, where a well-rounded understanding of topics is a prerequisite for writing answers that fetch good marks.

In this article, we feature the discussion on the topic: Heart Disease Among Youth.

Anchor: Vishal Dahiya

Guests:

1. Dr. Shikha Sharma, Sr. Nutritionist & Health Expert
2. Ranjan Ghosh, Managing Director, Gold’s Gym Indirapuram
3. Dr. Anand Kumar Pandey, Director & Senior Consultant, Department of Cardiology, Dharamshila Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Delhi

Highlights of the discussion:

• Introduction.
• Factors responsible for diseases in the young population.
• Changing food habits.
• Role of exercise regime.
• Measures ahead.
• Conclusion

Introduction:

• There is a rising trend of cardiovascular problems among the younger population.
• Heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases have always been major health issues across the world. 
• According to experts, many factors are responsible for heart attacks including chronic health issues like diabetes, and blood pressure, lifestyle factors like smoking, drinking and unhealthy diets combined with excessive stress that ails the heart and makes it susceptible to cardiac issues.
• An increasing trend is also observed in diseases like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc in the young age population

Factors Responsible for Heart diseases in the young population:

• The lifestyle factors like- physical inactivity, smoking, drinking, sedentary lifestyle, lack of sleep, etc.
• Family/genetic history is also responsible for lifestyle diseases.
• The rising pollution level.
• Stress plays one of the most important roles in a person’s mental well-being.
• Adulterated food, improper diet, and lack of nutrition are other reasons for further enhancing the risk. 
• The perception is that at younger age even unhealthy food will not have much impact on physical health.
• The major reason responsible for disease shift to younger age population is ignorance of symptoms:
  • It is observed that the majority of the patients ignore the first symptoms of cardiac arrest like chest pain etc.
  • It is often mistaken to be indigestion. By the time the severity of the symptom is observed, it becomes a massive attack damaging organs and sometimes leading to the death of the patient. 

Changing food habits:

• Globally, sugar consumption has gone up more than ten times. Sugar causes inflammation which is in turn responsible for heart diseases, diabetes, and changes in the ph level of blood disturbing the electrochemical processes.
• Certain foods are net negative in nutrition they end up absorbing and using the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids of a healthy body.
• Usage of refined food like express carbs which converts into sugar very quickly after digestion.
• Low glycemic index carbs like that found in vegetables and pulses have been considerably reduced in diets.
• After the Industrial revolution, there is much reliance on wheat and rice as the staple diet and the consumption of coarse grains like millets declined.
• The rising popularity of convenience foods like biscuits and potato chips.
• The trend of light breakfast, working lunch, and unhealthy junk dinner results in a bad lifestyle.

Role of Exercise Regime in heart diseases:

• Nowadays it is observed that people get cardiac arrest in gyms. 
• The increasing trend of ideal physique often results in young enthusiasts going overboard and following strenuous exercise regimens.
• Due to inadequate guidance regarding the desired heart rate, high-intensity workouts may further worsen the situation.
• Moreover, people tend to hide their cardiovascular history from their gym trainers/instructors.
• The exercise regime is often complemented by heavy doses of steroids and food supplements to augment the physical appearance. This might have serious repercussions on the individuals’ health

Measures Ahead:

• There is a need to promote wellness concepts and preventive health checkups.
• Each person should go for at least one ECG every year.
• An index of suspicion should be raised and public awareness programs should be conducted at various levels.
• Fundamentals of Nutrition education should not be made a specialization and must be included in the course curriculum of schools and colleges.
• In the food habits part, one should replace sugar with natural sweeteners like honey, jaggery, raisins, dates, etc. 
• Following a good and balanced diet with the incorporation of more natural food (fruits and vegetables) rather than artificial food supplements.
• Everyone should be made to understand that exercise is a continuous process and that shortcuts should be avoided.
• Exercise should be gradually started and should not be overdone.
• The importance of Biological clocks/Circadian rhythm should be respected.
• Guidelines should be prescribed for all gym instructors to ensure a decent exercise regimen. They should also promote preventive health check-ups before changing exercise patterns and even at desired intervals of time for a well-informed exercise routine.
• Ensure appropriate and proper sleep quality.

Conclusion:

Health is a combination of social, mental, and physical well being and so all aspects should be adequately considered for a healthy lifestyle. Overdoing anything can cause more harm than benefits.

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