According to many surveys, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in India. It is anticipated that cardiovascular diseases are expected to be increasing year by year. There are many reasons for heart problems to occur that can be controlled or even avoided by simple changes in your life style except few reasons like heredity, age and diabetes which are major risk factors. Women should follow certain precautionary measures to avoid the cardiac problems and keep safe at heart.

Tips for Healthy Heart Care:-

Exercise:

Every woman needs to be physically fit & fine to lead a happy life and take a good care of herself and her whole family. Women need to introduce exercise as a part of her life style no matter how much ever busy her schedule is. Walking is the simple exercise that is very ideal for women. Walk for at least half an hour daily, do not use lifts and avoid sitting for long hours.

Diet:

Diet plays an important role in maintaining a good health. Women should always take a diet that is rich in proteins, less of carbohydrate, less oil, intake green vegetables and avoid high glycemic food like cornflakes, white bread, French fries as they develop arterial stress that swell the brachial arteries for longer time.

Health Checkups at equal Intervals:

After crossing an age of 30, it is must for women to go for periodical health checkups like blood pressure, sugar levels before fasting & after meals and lipid panels. If the count seems to be higher in any of the test levels, there is a chance of developing heart related problems in future for such women. To avoid risk at a later stage, it is always advisable to go for periodical medical checkups to rule out health problems in advance and control your life style to overcome it.

Stroke Awareness:

Women should be aware of the stoke symptoms as stoke prevention is as protective as heart disease prevention. Women are more likely to get stroke than men.

Reduce Stress by Yoga and Meditation:

Mostly stress is related to environmental, psychosocial and physical strain factors.  Continued status of stress may affect women with high blood pressure, fatigue, high cholesterol levels, physical inactivity and sleeping disorders that seriously become the root cause for developing cardiovascular disease. Always try to rule out your stress factors by practicing yoga and meditation.

Check on Hormones:

Hormones play an important role in the overall health of women. The presence of estrogen helps women to overcome the risk of heart attack when compared to men till the age of 40. After crossing the age 40 years, when the women enter the stage of menopause she has greater chances of heart attacks. It is advisable to follow a gynecologist suggestion to maintain your hormones levels in balance.

Heart Disease in women is different from men. Very often it is not diagnosed as symptoms are not classical like men. Also the disease many times is diffuse and in small arteries, so angiography is normal but chest pain symptoms are there. On the other hand Women are also likely to have false ECG changes or false positive stress test which many times creates panic situations.

So Cardiac check up for woman should be done with expert cardiologists to get correct guidance on prevention, early detection and treatment.

Keep safe and take a good care of your heart.

To know more tips for healthy heart, visit www.ipc-india.org.

Related Post : Heart Disease in Indian Women

People should always be cautious about their diet to avoid health complications in future.  They should take nutritious and protein rich food to keep fit and fine. Among all the parts of the human body, heart is the main organ that needs special care and concern. It is must that people should eat quality and low calorie food to have a healthy body and keep safe on heart.

Breakfast:-

Breakfast plays a vital role in improving the health of any patient and especially in heart patients. People should not skip or delay their breakfast for the different reasons like not being hungry, losing weight, and for lack of time. There are many health benefits that can be derived from eating breakfast.

• Take sweet or salty oatmeal which is very good for health.
• Always try to take light breakfast like milk, bread, egg, and biscuit.
• Avoid deep fry items and junk food items.
• Introduce green leafy vegetables into your diet to keep your heart safe and healthy.
• Intake nutritious food that is rich in proteins and anti-oxidants to overcome the stress that can arise out of avoiding exercise and consuming fast food on continuous basis.

Lunch:-

Lunch is also important for balancing the whole immune system of the body for carrying daily routines activities in energetic manner. It is always preferable to take a light lunch to avoid drowsiness and fatigue.

• Intake a small bowl of rice, dal with green vegetables rich in fiber.
• Introduce cloves, garlic and jeera into your daily routine of food intake as it removes bad cholesterol.
• Have lots of fruits like pomegranate and papaya, dry fruit like walnuts, onion, olive oil and spinach. Intake of this food items will remove the barriers and cleans the nerves in the heart.
• Intake of low calorie food like oat meal, fresh fruits, vegetables, broccoli, beans, peas, cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, Carrots, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. This will help in maintaining good health of heart as they are rich in Alpha carotene anti-oxidant.
• Intake of healthy fats in the form of raw nuts, olive oil, and fish oils, flax seeds, or avocados help to avoid heart related problems.

Dinner:-

Dinner is a balancing meal that controls your body resistance levels throughout the night in the sleep. It is important to take a very light and low fat food to avoid feeling heaviness and stuffiness while sleeping.

• Avoid spicy and oily food items that pile up excess fats and cholesterol in body that cause damage to the heart.
• Having non- vegetarian food like meat and chicken is harmful to the heart. You can have fish and shellfish. Poultry that are rich in Omega 3 and proteins is good on heart.
• Consuming tomatoes with garlic, olive oil and brown bread is good for heart.
• Intake sugar less sweets to avoid diabetes that route to heart problems.
• Consume lot of fiber food like cereals, pasta and bread made of whole grains or legumes
• Also you can take calcium and protein rich food items like Egg without yolk. Skimmed to low fat milk can prevent from heart problems.

It is very important to take a proper and quality diet to avoid heart related problems. If you neglect and intake processed foods and fatty food items, you tend to become sick and a victim of heart related issues. Intake of proper diet along with weight control and regular exercise are also important to keep your heart safe and healthy.

To know more details about healthy heart, visit the website www.ipc-india.org.

Unusual signs of heart attack:

1. Chest Discomfort:

The major symptom for heart attack is feeling pain in chest. If there is chest discomfort and pain, it could root the problem towards a heart attack. But not all heart attacks showcases chest pain, but merely a chest pain can be a rooting cause for heart attack.

2. Back Pain:

As the heart is in front, people always mistake that only a front pain can lead to a heart attack, even a back pain can be a symptom and a cause for heart attack. Since the heart is surrounded by lungs, an artery is connected to the back. In case the blood is blocked in that particular artery, it may cause pain in your back and ultimately lead to a heart attack. It is very important for anyone to be aware of the atypical symptom that can cause heart attack.

3.  Neck, jaw, shoulders, arms, elbow, stomach, and abdominal pain:

In most of the heart attacks, you can experience neck pain, jaw pain, shoulders pain, arms pain, elbow and abdominal pain. Though you encounter such pains you may not have a chest pain. The pains in such parts can come and go and are not experienced on continuous basis. The pain increases on exertion and goes away on relaxation. Some physicians name the pain from jaw to arm as “referred pain” and there is a tendency of general weakness and energy loss. All such kind of pains could be associated with heart ailments.

4. Shortness of breath:

Shortness of breath is caused to the blockage in the air passages of nose, throat, mouth that discomforts while taking breath. It usually happens due to the rooting causes of cardiac or respiratory or neurological problems. Heart disease specifically causes breathlessness when the supply of blood is not enough for the supply of the oxygen to the heart muscles. Sometimes emotional distress, such as anxiety, can also lead to difficulty in breathing. But breathlessness also could be an indicative reason for a heart attack or heart failure.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

5. Unusual or unexplained Fatigue and Weakness:

A follow up of unusual fatigue over a month can be warning sign of heart ailment. Feeling fatigue is a major reason among women to get a heart attack. More over feeling tired and becoming weak day by day may also become a reason for heart attack.

6. Anxiety

Anxiety always creates severe health problems and can be a cause for heart attack. People who keep worrying about financial matters, health problems, family issues, professional threats and feel the stress over the time creates unusual anxiety resulting in heart attack.

7. Rapid or Irregular Pulse Rate:

When a person feels weak, giddiness and breathlessness, it might turn to a rapid or irregular pulse resulting in heat attack. A skipped heart beat can be ignored but if the pulse rate is rapid an irregular, it is an alarming situation. The person can have a heart attack, stroke, heart failure or even death.

8. Sweating, Light-headedness or dizziness:

 When a person starts cold sweating, it is symptom of heart attack. Sweating is a very common thing, but if you are just relaxing and all of sudden you start cold sweating, it definitely can be an alarming situation and you could a victim of heart attack. If a person faces light-headedness and unconsciousness, it can be a sign of heart attack.

So Dear Friends, know your heart, know yourself, go for a cardiac check as prevention is the vaccination for heart attack.

To know more details about Heart Care, visit the website www.ipc-india.org

Note: Any exercise chosen by heart patients needs to be strictly followed under a supervision of physician. Following are few Generic suggestions.

Exercise is the most important aspect of life for staying healthy and being active for all human being irrespective of age and gender. It helps and improves the functioning of the whole body in a much better way. The activity of exercise enhances the fitness of the body physically and mentally. If you have observed heart patients, most of them are advised to do exercise to overcome the risk of heart attacks or cardiac arrest further. One should not forget that heart patients are only eligible to do some particular exercises and not all are applicable and advisable for them.

There are different types of exercises for Heart Patients to follow:

1. The most simple, yet an effective exercise for a heart patient is walking. It can improve the energy levels and keep them active throughout the day. It is the basic step towards the journey of beginning an exercise.
2. Aerobics plays an important part of exercise as it is highly advisable for almost all heart patients with mild movements. It shows better results in a very short span of time.
3. Swimming is another form of aerobic exercise that enhances the patient’s health system and decreases the risk of heart attacks.
4. Cycling is the best remedial exercise for avoiding heart problems. The heart patient based on his/her health condition, can either use a regular cycle or stationary cycle. Water aerobics and water cycling helps a lot for heart patients and relieves them from joint pains.
5. Stretching is important exercise for heart patients as it makes the body muscles flexible and increases your range of mobility. Also stretching the arms and legs after the exercise helps the patient to relax and avoid any muscle strain or injury.
6. Strength Training is also a part of exercise program where patients start with low resistance and gradually increase to higher resistance.
7. Flexibility exercises are very simple and unique for heart patients like neck exercise. It relaxes your body and helps to improve your flexibility.

Precautions for Heart patients while exercising:

1. Isometric exercises like push-ups and sit-ups should be avoided for heart patients as it strains the muscles.
2. It is not advisable for heart patients to do exercises in extreme temperatures like too cold, hot or humid. As high humidity and extreme temperatures may act adverse on their health.
3. Avoid extremely hot and cold showers or sauna baths immediately after the exercise as it might affect the pressure on heart.

Plus points of doing exercises by heart patients:

1. It makes your body flexible and improves your mobility levels.
2. It helps in improving the circulation of blood that in turn regulates oxygen in your body in a better way.
3. Makes your heart and cardio vascular system strong.
4. It boosts your energy levels and endurance.
5. It maintains and controls your blood pressure.
6. It reduces your body excess fat, cholesterol and helps you gain healthy weight.
7. It relives you from stress, tension, anxiety and depression.
8. Overcomes your sleeping disorder problems.
9. Last but not the least, makes you feel more comfortable with relaxed state of mind.

Any exercise chosen by heart patients needs to be strictly followed under a supervision of physician. Visit the website http://www.ipc-india.org to know more details.

It is said diabetes is the mother and heart disease is the child. Anybody who is diabetic has almost 2 – 3 times more chance of getting a heart problem than a non diabetic. Another major problem is diabetic people get multiple blockages which is leading them to bypass surgeries. Also when bypass surgeries are done, the chances of wound infections and complications are more if the sugar is not under control. If the sugar is not controlled, there is a chance for diffuse disease to form in the smaller vessels. It is often found even after a bypass surgery of such cases they are not completely benefited.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Now you can understand why controlling Diabetes is important, we at IPC specialize in treating heart cases with special care and help them to control their sugar levels back to normal levels. Another problem is in spite of taking medication or insulin, the diabetes is not controlled, this is where precisely diabetic reversal program comes into play. We have treated challenging cases where in spite of patients taking more than 100 units of insulin daily were unable to control their sugar levels. At IPC Diabetes Reversal Program, we carefully evaluate the entire life style like the diet, exercise pattern and most important the mind pattern. We have seen that there is a certain mindset which makes a diabetic a diabetic patient. D for Diabetes and D for Discipline, if we live a disciplined lifestyle, we can control diabetics. Most often patients do not take care and are not disciplined in following regular walking and exercise, diet control. There are Type A personality whom we call it Hurry, Burry, and Curry. If they follow a certain pattern in their diet, it is easy for them to control diabetes otherwise they will have problems. At IPC, We offer diabetes reversal program that is beneficial to the patients.

For instance, if business is taken into consideration, you have a sleeping partner as well active partner. If both of them are active and work together than only they will have success. Likewise if the patient is doing all the activities in the day, the sugar levels will go high and only medication cannot control it. The patients need a perfect diabetic control that can be easily done following diabetic reversal program techniques.

For more information, please visit: www.ipc-india.org

Another aspect which people ask is about medication as conventionally when cholesterol is high, patients are put on medication and often they grumble that at the age of 30 or 40. Do they have to continue these medicines lifelong? Here Cholesterol Reduction program play an important role. We at IPC, evaluate the life style of the patient, the risk factors, especially when the genetic factors are very strong and even after following life style, if the cholesterol is not controlled then medication is required.

But the good part is that almost 80% of the patients can control their cholesterol if they strictly adhere to the life style changes and follow to the modifications and instructions as suggested by IPC. As a result, most of the patients benefit from IPC Cholesterol Reduction program.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Even patients who come with high cholesterol and are heart patients, we have observed they were taking heavy doses of medicine. At IPC, those patients were introduced to follow Cholesterol Reduction program under the cardiac rehabilitation program – they have gradually decreased their cholesterol levels and the reduces intake of heavy doses of cholesterol medicines. In few cases it has even helped remove the cholesterol medicine also.

Whenever patients performed well, in their diet, exercise and stress management, the immediate effect is seen on the lipid profile reports. Even in our follow-up cases, when we ask them to repeat lipid profile test, just with their reports we can come to know if the patient is following our advise of daily walking or not. As half an hour of daily walking increases HDL – this is a positive sign for good cholesterol level.

The blood chemistry is very important. For instance if we use hard water, the vessels gets dirty and if we use soft water they remain clean. It is the chemistry of water that affects the utensils. It is the blood chemistry that helps to determines if blockages will be formed or not and it is our blood chemistry which can cause a heart attack or prevent a heart attack.

In this Cholesterol Reduction program, we focus on altering the blood chemistry which will help you to prevent the formation of blockages of any kind. We try to reverse and prevent heart attack.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Most of the hospitals and clinics which are offering these health checkups are missing the life style modification program. At IPC, we administer life style management program for patients. Each and every person apart from the biomedical parameters, life style is also studied in detail as part of health check up. The advanced test includes stress test, Echo, and also unique test cartography. This is a simple non invasive test that gives the complete physiology of the heart and is done in 10 minutes. IPC is not only unique in non invasive treatment but also with cardiac health checks for various non invasive tests. We also have sphygmocor which is the pulse wave analysis where you can get to know the exact pressure on heart and also know the arterial stiffness. Arterial stiffness is the real indicator of the heart attack in the future and for all possibilities of blockages in heart.

For instance, you can take the situation where to get married how we match horoscopes of a boy and girl  and decide if their­ future is happy or not. In the same way, you can also take the horoscope of heart to know its future is safe or is it diseased and has any possibility of getting heart attack. At IPC, we consider a holistic approach through innovative cardiac health checkups to know the real status of heart for preventing heart attacks.

To know more details about heart checkup packages in Mumbai, visit the website.

We have done research studies and repeat angiographies. Total removal of blockages is not possible. We find many campaigns these days that are projecting that one can dissolve the blockages completely or remove blockages. Such false campaigns also suggests that there are medicines that can help to remove blockages but it is not totally true.

We have done repeated angiographies and have documented that the blockages could be reversed. In comparative studies we have observed that a 90% block can become 70% or 60% and sometimes 60% blockages can even be removed. If there are multiple blockages, to expect a normal angiography after the treatment is not possible.

We have seen many patients who have undertaken such treatments elsewhere have been over promised and under delivered, they undergo repeated angiographies just to keep a check on their blockages. This is an unnecessary waste of time & money and moreover creates trauma and complications to your body.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

At IPC, we clearly explain the patient before the treatment for what can be expected out of that particular treatment like EECP and ACT. In ACT treatment, we give 20intra Venus saline drips over a span of three months. Generally we give twice a week or once in a week or once in 15 days depending on the cases.

In this drips, the main ingredients are EDTA and antioxidants. Antioxidants are very important as the root cause of blockages is endothelial dysfunction. That means the internal lining of arteries of the heart is damaged.

For Example, when you cook something on a pan, it sticks but if you take Teflon coated pan, it does not. Similarly if internal lining that is the endothelial layer is strong then the blockages cannot be made.  The antioxidants therapy strengthens the internal lining of the arteries of the heart.  Also it can be compared to the anti rust that is done on a car like how the iron gets oxidised. Similarly we intake free radicals that are generated out of pollution, having junk food, stress, smoking, irregular eating habits, sleeping disorders, all these free radicals damage the internal lining of the arteries of the heart and also create problems for the whole body.

When we give this intra venus saline drips, it basically goes and scavenges this free radicals and throws them out through the kidneys.

There are many misconceptions about this therapy that it damages kidneys, but this is not true. At IPC we have a technical collaboration with Arterial Disease Clinic London. Medicines should be given in proper dosage then only any therapy can be beneficial. It is safe and beneficial for all.

For more details, Go to the page Chelation Therapy.