Simple changes can protect your heart
Eat and drink healthy, exercise and stop smoking, advises Dr. Nimali Fernando as world readies to cut down killer CVD
Asian blood vessels are smaller and as such prone to plaque getting deposited (atherosclerosis) sooner. This leads to vessels becoming harder and narrower, resulting in blood flow blockages faster.
As World Heart Day was celebrated on Friday, with the aim of cutting premature cardiovascular disease ( CVD) by 25% in 2025, Sri Lanka will make a concerted effort to meet this target.
“CVD is the main cause of death and this is why the World Heart Federation is set on reducing its incidence,” said the President of the Sri Lanka Heart Association ( SLHA) and Consultant Cardiologist of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Dr. Nimali Fernando, reiterating that 80% of heart disease and stroke are preventable. The statistics are disturbing: Each year CVD causes 17.5 million premature deaths globally. Premature deaths due to CVD are expected to rise to 23 million globally by 2030. Explaining that premature death for a male means dying before the age of 55 years and for a female before the age of 65 years, Dr. Fernando stresses that there is good news amidst the gloom and doom. For, “simple changes” in lifestyle can improve heart health. They are:
Eating and drinking healthy food and drinks Exercising Stopping smoking This is why the theme of the 2017 World Heart Day is ‘ Share how you power your heart’.
“It is important not only to keep your heart healthy, but also share with family, friends and community how they can safeguard their hearts as well,” she says.
On how to look after the heart, Dr. Fernando picks up two important factors that need to be understood -- the two types of risks, ‘non-modifiable’ and ‘modifiable’, that we face. Non- modifiable risks include age, gender and inheritance. As a person grows older, the risks of CVD increase. “Family history, meanwhile, comes into play if a ‘ first- degree’ relative, such as the father, the mother, a brother or a sister, has developed heart disease prematurely or has suffered a heart attack prematurely and died,” she says.
If a first- degree relative faces such a cardiac event, then others in the family need to be extra careful and get them themselves screened earlier than those who do not have such relatives, even though these are non- modifiable risk factors, the Sunday Times learns.
Urging that the modifiable risk factors – diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and obesity -- should be detected early, she said that by changing these, the total risk can be brought down. After 40 years of age, the recommendation is that every person should get his/her blood sugar, cholesterol and pressure checked once a year. However, those who have a family history of heart disease should get themselves screened earlier than that.
Dr. Fer nando strengthens her arguments with data: Diabetes causes 60% of all deaths due to CVD. Hypertension is a silent killer as many people do not know that they are having high blood pressure. This is why regular check- ups once a year after a person reaches 40 years of age are critical. The Body Mass Index (BMI) should be between 19 and 23. High cholesterol levels cause 4 million