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World Heart Day falls on Thursday, September 29. The event comes at a time when the number of heart attacks remains high, and days after the death of the comedian Raju Srivastava, who suffered while exercising. Excessive exercise can lead to heart attacks, according to experts. People who look completely healthy, too, may be vulnerable to heart attacks and suffer from cardiovascular disease.
The right amount of exercise
“Excessive exercise is certainly not good for our bodies by any means. Excessive exercise or HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) should only be reserved for professional athletes. (Even for them, it is not cardio-friendly),” Dr Bikram Kesharee Mohanty, Senior Consultant Cardio-Throacic & Vascular Surgeon (Adult & Pediatric) and Visiting Consultant at National Heart Institute, New Delhi, told ABP Live.
While it is necessary to exercise to a moderate extent in order to keep fit, one should know when the exercising becomes excessive. Dr Mohanty explained where to draw the line.
“Calculating how much one should do varies according to the individual’s age and medical conditions. Here comes the role of MHR (Maximum Heart Rate) & THR (Target Heart Rate). To keep ourselves physically fit, our THR should be 60%-80% of our MHR. The formula for MHR = 220 – Age (beats per minute). To simplify, if the person’s age is 40 years, then the MHR = 220 – 40 = 180 beats per minute. So, the THR (which is 60%-80% of MHR) should be 108 to 144 beats per minute. So, that individual should not exceed his heart rate beyond 108 to 144 by any means while exercising. If a person is a smoker or has other medical conditions, they should achieve a THR of 50% of the MHR,” Dr Mohanty said.
Excessive exercise brings a heavy load on the heart. “Thereby the heart undergoes remodeling. The walls become thicker, which is medically not a good condition. These hearts, known as ‘athletes’ hearts’, are more prone to heart diseases, cardiac arrest, and even stroke,” Dr Mohanty said.
Even people who look healthy may be vulnerable
Dr Mohanty attributed the high number of heart attacks to “new-age lifestyle and problems”. He said, “Unhealthy dietary habits, a sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity, excessive caffeine in drinks such as tea and coffee, smoking, excessive alcohol intake, and a stressful lifestyle are responsible for this rise.”
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People who look completely healthy, too, may have cardiovascular disease. “If at all they look healthy, one may not be healthy from the inside. So beyond the age of 40, one should undergo yearly heart checkups. Suppose the person has high-risk factors, namely high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic smoking, excessive alcohol intake, physical inactivity, high cholesterol levels, family history of heart disease, and symptoms of heart disease like chest pain, breathlessness, and forceful heartbeats . In that case, the person should undergo cardiac checkups even earlier.”
Professional athletes are more prone to cardiac arrests
For many people, a misconception is that “I cannot have heart disease”. “People think that they are physically fit, hence they cannot have a heart attack. So they never undergo cardiac checkups. They believe that not being overweight and going for regular work to their workplaces (though they don’t do regular exercises) would qualify them for not having heart ailments. Many people have chronic stress, thereby having frequent surges of the release of stress enzymes inside their bodies which damage the heart arteries and can give rise to blockages and then heart attacks. It is also hereditary and can happen without any risk factors and without any warning signs,” Dr Mohanty said.
Significance of World Heart Day
World Heart Day is an initiative by the World Heart Federation (WHF) to spread awareness about cardiovascular disease (CVD), including heart disease and stroke.
The World Heart Federation, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), announced the establishment of World Heart Day in 1999. Until 2011, World Heart Day was observed on the last Sunday of September. Now, it is observed on September 29 every year.
Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, is the world’s leading cause of death, with 18.6 million people dying each year due to these diseases. World Heart Day is the world’s biggest awareness raising platform for CVD, and for the CVD community to come together in the fight against this disease, and reduce its global burden.
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