By: Uddipana Chowdhury, The North-Eastern Chronicle
Visual by: Kunal Kaustav Duwarah
There was a time when heart attacks and cardiac arrest were seen only among people who are at their 50 or 60. But young people have also started becoming victims of heart attacks from last few years. You might be wondering why? It’s because of the lifestyle they are living and the food habits. Lack of physical exercise can also cause heart disease and can slowly take lives of young people.
Interview with Dr CN. Manjunath, Director of Jayadeva Hospital
In an interview, after Siddharth Shukla’s sudden death, Dr CN. Manjunath, Director of Jayadeva Hospital was asked why so many Indians suffer from heart disease and die at such an young age?
Dr CN. Manjunath made a statement saying, “Between 25 to 40 years, people are going through a lot of stress. One is tension at the workplace; they are worried about their future, trying to achieve too much in too little time. Extremely over-ambitious.”
The doctor mentioned about the current situation due to corona virus, how ‘Working From Home, ” is having an impact on the people. Here people are mostly working all night, giving too much efforts in work while neglecting their health and sleep. A study was conducted in Jayadeva hospital which was based on premature heart attack between 2018 to 2020. That includes 2500 patients out of which 51% used to smoke, 30% with high cholesterol and 8% with diabetes.
What Dr Ranjan Shetty says about the issue?
An interview with Dr Ranjan Shetty, HOD & Consultant – Interventional Cardiology, Manipal Hospitals revealed that smoking and food habits can have a huge impacts on people with weak heart and cause heart attack. Stress is also a significant reasons behind heart attacks among young people.
Dr. Shetty said that excessive exercise can also cause sudden heart attacks.
How to prevent heart attack?
According to Dr Shetty, a healthy lifestyle and avoidance of smoking or consuming alcohol is the best way to prevent heart attacks. Daily exercise should have a limited time which according to Shetty is 20 to 30 minutes. And one can control BP level, sugar level and cholesterol as well by taking pills. He also asked to go for regular check-up.
SOS treatment
According to Dr Ranjan Shetty when somebody is experiencing a heart attack, aspirin can be helpful in that situation but the hardest part is to take that person to a nearby hospital in an emergency. On the other hand,the close person can start giving CPR. if someone is suffering from a cardiac arrest.
CPR
CPR is a procedure that combines chest compressions which can be done with hands in emergency with an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest.
Hands-only CPR
To carry out a chest compression:
- Place the heel of your hand on the breastbone at the centre of the chest. Place the other hand on top of your first hand and interlock the fingers.
- Take position where your shoulders are exactly above your hands.
3.Use your body weight (not just the arms) - press straight down by 5 to 6cm on their chest.
- Keep your hands on the chest and release the compression
- Allow the chest to return to its original position.
7.Repeat these compressions at a rate of 100 to 120 times a minute until an ambulance arrives.
CPR with rescue breaths
1. Place the heel of your hand on the centre of the patient’s chest.place the other hand on top and press down by 5 to 6cm at a steady rate of 100 to 120 compressions a minute.
3.Give 2 rescue breaths after every 30 chest compressions.
4.Tilt the patient’s head gently and lift the chin up by using 2 fingers.
5.Pinch the patient’s nose.
Seal your mouth over their mouth and blow steadily into their mouth for about a second. 7.Check if their chest rises.
Give 2 rescue breaths.
Continue with cycles of 30 chest compressions and 2 rescue breaths until the ambulance arrives.
