Managing Cardiovascular Health in a Hectic Schedule

Lately, there’s a concerning trend in the news – heart problems leading to fatalities in younger populations. The surprising twist is that individuals who are young and seemingly fit are now becoming victims of heart issues, a phenomenon that traditionally afflicted those in older age.

Traditionally, the prevailing image of someone grappling with heart problems conjures up a person in their later years, possibly overweight with a slew of unhealthy lifestyle choices. However, recent trends have shattered these clichés, enlightening us that anyone, regardless of their outward appearance, can face heart problems if certain risk factors are high.

This emerging pattern has brought attention to heart health in the younger generation, an aspect often overlooked in the past. A hectic work schedule is among the prominent contributors to the surge in risk factors.

With inputs from a leading heart specialist and renowned heart transplant surgeon in Hyderabad, Dr. Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, let us delve more into the risks of hectic schedules and find ways to improve heart health.

Hectic Schedule: The Silent Reason for Many Heart Problems

A hectic schedule is commonly associated with lack of sleep, chronic stress, unhealthy food habits, weight gain, weakened immune system, and deteriorated mental health. A hectic schedule is the trigger for a slew of problems that directly impact the heart and can bring about systemic changes that increase the risk factors of heart problems, even in younger generations. Here’s how:

Chronic stress: Chronic stress triggers the release of excess cortisol, which tends to damage heart muscles and vessels, increasing the risk of heart problems.

Unhealthy food habits: The hectic schedule pushes us towards junk food to satiate our taste buds. Junk food, usually high in trans-fats and saturated fats, is found to accumulate fats in the vessels, clogging the system.

Mental problems: Stress and pressure directly contribute to anxiety and depression, which further exacerbates chronic stress and the need for junk food.

Sleep deprivation: Sleep is when our body tends to repair itself. Without quality sleep, all the damage done by stress, unhealthy food, and mental health issues tends to worsen the existing heart health, leading to hypertension and other heart issues.

Weight gain: Excessive cortisol, mental health problems that lead to stress eating, and metabolism problems due to sleep deprivation – all contribute to weight gain, which further increases inflammation and accumulates fats in the arteries, raising the risk of heart problems.

Managing Cardiovascular Health in a Hectic Schedule: 

Considering how a hectic schedule can disrupt various aspects of our lives, the best course of action is to address each factor that damages heart health systematically.

1. Maintain a Healthy Diet: You don’t have to dive headfirst into a restrictive diet to reduce health problems. By making simple changes, you can enhance your heart health and rectify the damage over time.

• Limit processed foods: A hectic schedule often tempts us with junk foods, but we strongly advise ruthlessly cutting down on processed foods.
• Focus on whole foods: Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins should take center stage in your diet. If they don’t, junk food might creep back in.
• Prepare your meals: This might be the challenging part, but investing time in preparing your meals keeps you on track, eliminates the entry of processed foods, and prevents slip-ups.

2. Exercise: “One doesn’t have to dedicate hours at a stretch to exercise. Vigorous exercise for 15-20 minutes a day is found to provide significant benefits to the heart”, says Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, the best heart surgeon in Hyderabad. Additionally, one can try to incorporate movement throughout the day – by using stairs and performing stretches when possible.
3. Stress Management: Stress is a silent enemy that stealthily eats away at your mental peace and damages the heart. Schedule “me-time” every day and consider practicing yoga, deep breathing, and meditation to ensure relaxation.
4. Quality of Sleep: This is the most straightforward of the tips, yet most people find a way to fail at this. Sleep is when the body tries to heal itself, so please ensure at least 8 hours of quality sleep for better heart health.
5. Regular Health Check-ups: Even after following all the best tips, existing conditions could be silently growing inside you to cause sudden problems. This is precisely why one needs to have regular health check-ups from a qualified heart surgeon to ensure the heart is in the proper health.

If you have never been for a heart check-up, it is essential to evaluate and understand your current heart health to make the proper steps for improvement. If you are in Hyderabad and looking to consult a qualified heart specialist, Padma Shri Awardee Dr. Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale is the best heart specialist in Hyderabad who can guide you to improve your heart health. You can contact him here.