Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
H w to
How o Taake
e Caare of
Yo
our Heeartt
Introduction
Western India Products Limited (WIPRO) is one of the largest
IT services company in India. They arranged a chat with Dr.
Devi Shetty in order to make their employers aware of the
importance of looking after their hearts for a long, healthy
life.
Dr. Devi Shetty is a renowned cardiac surgeon in Bangalore,
India who has done more than 15,000 heart operations. He is
also the founder of a multi‐specialty hospital called Narayana
Hrudayalaya on the outskirts of Bangalore City in South India.
Apart from cardiac surgery, the hospital deals with
cardiology, neurosurgery, paediatric surgery, haematology
and transplant services, and nephrology.
Contained in this booklet is the transcript of the chat updated
with graphics, useful extra information, and links for
animated videos of the functions of the human heart and
other related articles.
(PREPARED FOR NON COMMERCIAL EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES)
Sumedha Manabarana
Dr.D
D Devvi Sh
hettty
Heart Spe
ecialistt, Banggalore, Indiaa
♥ He performmed the ffirst openn‐heart suurgery in the world to
close a holle in the heart witth the help of a microchip camera
♥ He perform oplasty operation
med Asia’s first dyynamic caardio‐mio
♥ He used an
n artificiaal heart fo
or the firsst time in
n India
♥ He perform dia using the blood vesselss
med the ffirst surgeery in Ind
off the stom
mach to b
bypass th he blocke ed arteries of the h
heart
1. Queestion: Whaat are the thumb rules for a layyman to taake care off his heart??
Answerr:
1. Diet ‐‐ Less of caarbohydratte, more of protein, lless oil
2. Exercisse ‐ Half an ho
our's walk at least five dayys a week; avo
oids lifts and avoid sitting for a long tim
me
3. Quit ssmoking
4. Contrrol weight
5. Contrrol blood p
pressure an
nd sugar
SM
MOKING CLO
OGS THE AR
RTERIES AND
D CAUSES HEEART ATTAC
CKS AND STR
ROKES!
2. Queestion: Is eaating non‐vvegetarian
n food (fish
h) good forr the heart?
Answerr: No.
3. Queestion: It's sstill a grave shock to hear that some apparently heealthy
perssons get a cardiac arrrest. How d do we und derstand it in perspecctive?
Answwer: This is called silent attackk; that is why we reco ommend e everyone
pastt the age oof 30 to und dergo routtine health
h checkupss.
4. Queestion: Are heart diseeases hered
ditary?
Answwer: Yes.
5. Question: What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices
do you suggest to de‐stress?
Change your attitude towards life. Do
Answer:
not look for perfection in everything in life.
FEELING STRESSED
FEELING POSITIVE EMOTIONS
6. Queestion: Is w
walking better than jo
ogging or iss more inteensive exercise
requ
uired to keeep a healtthy heart?
Answwer: Walking is betteer than joggging sincee jogging leeads to earrly fatigue
and injury to joints.
7. Queestion: You
u have donne so much oor and neeedy. What has
h for the po
insp
pired you to
o do so?
Answerr: Mother TTheresa, w
who was myy patient.
8. Queestion: Can people with low blo
ood pressure suffer h
heart diseaases?
Answwer: Extremely rare.
9. Question: 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?
Answer: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.
10. Question: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart?
Answer: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your
body's enzyme release for digestion gets confused.
11. Question: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines?
Answer: Control diet, walk and eat walnut.
12. Question: Can yoga prevent heart ailments?
Answer: Yoga helps.
13. Question: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?
Answer: Fruits and vegetables are the best and the worst is oil.
14. Question: Which oil is better ‐ groundnut, sunflower, olive?
Answer: All oils are bad.
15. Question: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any
specific test?
Answer: Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok. Check BP,
Treadmill test after an echo.
When you are unable to exercise on a treadmill or stationary cycle, you could have a
dobutamine stress eco test done on you. It involves infusing a medication through an
intravenous (IV) line, called dobutamine, while you are being closely monitored. The
medication stimulates your heart and makes it "think" it is exercising. The test is done
to evaluate your heart and valve function.
Dobutamine Stress Echocardiogram (dobutamine echo, pharmacological
echocardiogram)
16. Question: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?
Answer: 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.
+ or +
17. Question: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack
and that caused due to gastric trouble?
Answer: Extremely difficult without ECG.
18. Question: 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.
Answer: 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.
19. Question: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of
120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?
Answer: Yes.
20. Question: Marriages within close relatives can lead to heart problems for
the child. Is it true?
Answer: Yes, co‐sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and you may
not have a software engineer as a child.
21. Question: 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?
Answer: When you are young, nature protects you against all these
irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.
22. Question: Will taking anti‐hypertensive drugs cause some other
complications (short / long term)?
Answer: Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern anti‐
hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.
23. Question: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?
Answer: No.
24. Question: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease?
Answer: No.
25. Question: Ho
ow would yyou define junk food?
Answerr: Fried foo
od like Kenttucky, McD
Donalds, saamosas, an
nd even masala
dosas.
(Masalla Dosa is aalso called Dosay, Doose, Dosai, Dhosha, TThosai, Tossa, etc. It iss
a typica
al dish in So
outh Indiann cuisine, sserved with
h a varietyy of side disshes, one
famous being ‘sam mbar’, eateen for breaakfast or d
dinner, andd is rich in
carbohyydrates and protein)
26. Question: 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?
Answer: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians
are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.
27. Question: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?
Answer: No.
28. Question: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see
a lot of forwarded emails on this)?
Answer: 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. Question: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low haemoglobin
count lead to heart problems?
Answer: No. But it is ideal to have normal haemoglobin level to increase
your exercise capacity.
30. Question: 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?
Answer: 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.
31. Question: Is there a relation between heart problems and blood sugar?
Answer: Yes. A strong relationship since diabetics is more vulnerable to
heart attacks than non‐diabetics.
32. Question: What are the things one needs to take care of after a heart
operation?
Answer: Diet, exercise, drugs on time, Control cholesterol, BP, weight.
33. Question: Are people working on night shifts more vulnerable to heart
disease when compared to day shift workers?
Answer: No.
34. Question: What are the modern anti‐ hypertensive drugs?
Answer: 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.
35. Question: Does ‘Dispirin’ or similar headache pills increase the risk of
heart attacks?
Answer: No.
36. Question: Why is the rate of heart attacks more in men than in women?
Answer: Nature protects women till the age of 45.
37. Question: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?
Answer: Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise every day, do not
smoke and, go for health checkups if you are past the age of 30 (once in six
months recommended.)
CREDITS
♥ Heart Specialist Dr. Devi Shetty, Bangalore, India (for the chat)
♥ WIPRO Company, Bangalore, India (for arranging the chat)
♥ Judicial Medical Officer Dr. Sriyantha Amararatne, Australia (for forwarding the chat to me)
♥ Bupa health animation team, United Kingdom (for the video link)
♥ Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany (for thrombosis advice and special video inside vein)
♥ BBC (news.bb) for smoking warning graphic image
♥ Wikipedia ( for other images)
♥ No tobacco.org (for free images)
♥
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (for DS echocardiogram)
♥ Eugene Manabarana (for proof reading)
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VIDEO AND OTHER LINKS WILL BE GIVEN SEPERATELY
FOR LINK UPDATING PURPOSES.
The content is intended for general information only
and does not replace the need for personal advice
from a qualified health professional.