What determines the age of your heart?
Two major aspects determine the age of the heart: the health of your arteries and the health of your heart muscle. If you don’t move, your heart muscles become flabby. And arteries start getting blocked. You could be just 30, in the prime of your life, but your heart could have aged. Such a heart won’t pump sufficient blood and through it, life-giving oxygen. Everything will be fine until one day your heart can’t take the load anymore. Dr. Sudhansu Bhattacharya, cardiac surgeon, compares it to the working of a car. ‘Think of defective blood vessels as a narrow fuel pipe. As long as you are in 1st or 2nd gear it’s alright, but the minute you go into 4th or 5th the car will stall.’ A heart which does not get an adequate supply of blood from the artery stalls too.
The terrifying reality is that as long as we don’t go into fifth gear, we may never know that there is a problem with our heart, not unless we go in for diagnostic tests, as arteries get blocked gradually. Dr. AV Ganesh Kumar, Chief Interventional Cardiologist at Hiranandani Hospital, says, “The heart has to pump more blood during exertion or some emotional upset, and this can cause a heart attack.” There may be no warning signs before this, not as long as we are cruising along in second gear. “If the patient has breathlessness and fatigue, these are signs that it’s already late, that the blockage has progressed to an advanced stage,” says Dr. Kaushik.
Sporty youngsters stress their heart the most. If they have an underlying cardiac abnormality they are more likely to be at risk. This is because the heart is the body’s engine and like the engine of a high performance car, it is more vulnerable if it has to work extra hard.
Sport does not cause a heart attack but it can cause a young person to die suddenly by exacerbating an underlying problem that already exists.
What are the symptoms of a heart attack?
If you are having any one of the symptoms described below that lasts for more than 5 minutes, SEEK EMERGENCY TREATMENT WITHOUT DELAY. These symptoms could be the signs of a heart attack (also called myocardial infarction or MI) and immediate treatment is essential.
Symptoms of a heart attack include:
- Chest pain or discomfort in the center of the chest; also described as a heaviness, tightness, pressure, aching, burning, numbness, fullness or squeezing feeling that lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. It is sometimes mistakenly thought to be indigestion or heart burn.
- Pain or discomfort in other areas of the upper body including the arms, left shoulder, back, neck, jaw, or stomach
- Difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath
- Sweating or ‘cold sweat’
- Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like “heart burn”)
- Nausea or vomiting
- Light-headedness, dizziness, extreme weakness or anxiety
- Rapid or irregular heart beats
Women’s Symptoms Differ
Women often have different symptoms of a heart attack than men and may report symptoms before having a heart attack, although the symptoms are not typical “heart” symptoms.
Women’s symptoms may include:
- Upper back or shoulder pain
- Jaw pain or pain spreading to the jaw
- Pressure or pain in the center of the chest
- Light headedness
- Pain that spreads to the arm
- Unusual fatigue for several days
In a study of 515 women who had an acute myocardial infarction (MI), the most frequently reported symptoms were unusual fatigue, sleep disturbances, shortness of breath, indigestion and anxiety. The majority of women (78%) reported at least one symptom for more than one month before their heart attack. Only 30% reported chest discomfort, which was described as an aching, tightness, pressure, sharpness, burning, fullness or tingling.
Do not wait to get help
At the first signs of a heart attack, call for emergency treatment. Do not wait for your symptoms to “go away.” Early recognition and treatment of heart attack symptoms can reduce the risk of heart damage and allow treatment to be started immediately. Even if you’re not sure your symptoms are those of a heart attack, you should still be evaluated.
The best time to treat a heart attack is within one hour of the onset of the first symptoms. When a heart attack occurs, there’s a limited amount of time before significant and long-lasting damage occurs to the heart muscle. If a large area of the heart is injured during the heart attack, full recovery becomes much more difficult.
Studies show that the people who have symptoms of a heart attack often delay, or wait to seek treatment, for longer than seven hours.
Reasons people delay:
- They are young and don’t believe a heart attack could happen to them
- Symptoms are not what they expected
- They may deny the symptoms are serious and wait until they go away
- They may ask the advice of others, especially family members
- They may first try to treat the symptoms themselves, using aspirin or antacids
- They may think the symptoms are related to other health problems (upset stomach, arthritis)
- They may put the care of others first (take care of children or other family members) and not want to worry them
Waiting just a couple hours for medical help may limit your treatment options, increase the amount of damage to your heart muscle, and reduce your chance of survival.
Women can protect themselves by learning to identify the common symptoms of heart disease in women, getting a physical exam that includes screening for heart disease, and seeking a second opinion if symptoms persist. Learn more about women and heart attack.
Some people have a heart attack without having any symptoms (a “silent” myocardial infarction). A silent MI can occur among all patients, though it is more common among people with diabetes. A silent MI may be diagnosed during a routine doctor’s exam.
Preventing a Heart Attack
Even if you have a strong family history of early heart disease, there are many ways to decrease your likelihood of having a heart attack:
- Do not smoke
- Eat a healthy diet
- Reduce cholesterol
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Alleviate stress
- Drink moderately, if at all
- Decrease high blood pressure
- Manage (or avoid) diabetes
If heart disease runs in your family, it is imperative that you maintain the best possible overall health.
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