Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Heart ailments: Make lifestyle changes heart of matter

By Fabian Odum and Geraldine Akutu
26 June 2016   |   3:27 am
Sudden death, arising from heart-related challenges, appears to get greater attention these days, especially in recent weeks as personalities reportedly involved are sports icons.

bp

Sudden death, arising from heart-related challenges, appears to get greater attention these days, especially in recent weeks as personalities reportedly involved are sports icons.

Nigeria lost two top football managers in a space of five days, and one of them is generally believed to have succumbed to heart ailment, though no autopsy report has been made public.

It is usually assumed that people in this area of endeavour are models of physical fitness, and could not be caught in the middle of what many attribute largely to lifestyle indulgences.

Incidentally, defining symptoms of heart attack is veering off the normal; it is generally known to be associated with common signs as chest pain, piercing in nature or tightness in the chest. However, experts say symptoms may vary in men and women.

Research has shown that heart attack may not always present with chest pain, in which case, it is tagged “silent Myocardial infarction (MI).” It has been found that women especially, may have heart attack without the traditional chest pain. Some may just be weak, while others may have palpitations or shortness of breath.

Silent MI also tends to be commoner in the elderly and diabetic patients, irrespective of gender, according to Dr. Akinsanya Olusegun-Joseph, a consultant cardiologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

Regular physical exercises have immense profit that dulls the risk of heart issues, but high blood pressure and high cholesterol increase as people age, whether in sports or not remain risk factors, studies have revealed.

Health experts are wont to point out the differences in whether a person had a heart attack or cardiac arrest because they reveal both are not the same.

A heart attack, which Olusegun-Joseph also called Myocardial Infarction, is said to occur, when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart is diminished or cut off and could lead to damage or death of part of the heart muscle.

Studies have also shown that a heart attack may cause damage to the heart and that could lead to cardiac arrest, but they are not the same. Cardiac may entail the heart ceasing from beating. Cardiac arrest could lead to sudden death in many cases.

They have also shown that sudden cardiac arrest in sports people is prevalent in those aged 35 and above. However, it is believed they are also likely to be with heart disease.

Activities For Heart Attack Survivor

According to Olusegun-Joseph, “A survivor of heart attack needs to be managed well afterwards. He or she also needs lots of counseling on life style modification and life after heart attack.

• Patient should be encouraged to stop smoking if he or she smokes. Passive smoking should also be discouraged. The patient will also need to cut down greatly on intake of fatty meals, processed meals, and intake of refined sugar.

• Patient should also avoid or reduce intake of alcohol as much as possible.

• Heart attack survivors should also be counseled on need and techniques for stress management. They need to avoid, as much as possible, stressful situations.

• An expert may be needed in this regard to offer some form of psychotherapy, which will also include management of anxiety and depression, which a number of survivors experience. Increased physical activity/regulated exercise is very beneficial post heart attack.

In this article

0 Comments