Myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack has undergone a significant change in past few years. Earlier it was know to be an elderly issue but in past few years it has become very common in young population despite having improved medical infrastructure and health awareness. Current data suggests that one in every five heart attack patients is now under the age of 40 and the question is why?
Must Read : How to differentiate between Heart failure, heart attack or gastric pain👇 https://medcollegedarshan.com/index.php/2023/12/08/heart-failure-vs-heart-attack-mi-sign-symptoms-how-to-differentiate-and-treatment/
This trend raises important questions about the factors contributing to it. Let’s go through some points that might be a cause behind this trend :
1.Food & Eating Habits
- Unhealthy diet, packaged & processed food, chemically grown food materials, fruits & vegetables, fast & junk food containing high calorific value results in deposition of bad cholesterol and fats in the body leading to obesity.
- This obesity is itself a storehouse of lots of lifestyle disorders such as heart attack, Diabetes, blood pressure etc.
- Oil is one of the major food part that plays an important role in cholesterol build up. Mustard & coconut was commonly used cooking oils in the Indian families but western influence and tv advertisements promoted refined and olive oil as ‘best’ over the commonly used oils in India. Unfortunately this marketing propaganda completely failed and the recent study says that Mustard oil and ghee is good for heart health and reduces the risk of heart diseases.
2. Lifestyle
Poor lifestyle that includes food habits, sleep cycle, profession, nature of job etc. plays an important role in cardiac activities.
- Sleep cycle : It is always believed that ‘early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise’ but in recent years this trend has completely changed, generally among youths but the recent studies has shown that sleeping around 10PM and waking up early in the morning ‘brhm muhurt‘ is best for body and its metabolism. Beside this a proper sleep of minimum for 6-8 hours is a must requirement for the growth & repair of cells and vital organs of the body.
- Profession & Nature of Job : Nature of job plays an important role on the mental health. The major middle class population works for 10-12 hours to meet their financial requirement, this directly affects both physical and mental health and results in anxiety and stressful life. Moreover, the ‘target’ based job also contributes to this.
- Career and Study related stress : Stress and anxiety due to career growth and ‘to achieve’ has become very common. Specially among students preparing for competitive exams like JEE, NEET, UPSC etc.
3. Drug Abuse & Alcoholism
- It is well known that drug abuse, smoking and alcohol intake is very common among the young generation just to consider themselves ‘modern & cool’ despite ignoring the health risk.
- Particularly alcohol directly impacts the heart and liver.
4. Gym & Exercise
- In recent years, it has been observed that many actors and influencers got heart attack even after being ‘physically fit‘. Any particular reason behind these cases is still unknown. But according to doctors, too much gym ( more than required ) is not good for human health as it affects the cardiac functions directly. Many people also starts taking artificial supplements, proteins & steroids to build muscles which is not good for the body. As per health experts, natural source of protein is always best for the body.
- For a normal person, 45-60 minutes of Yoga, mild exercise, walking etc. is enough to keep the body fit and fresh.
5. Genetic & Medical Condition
- Some individuals may have a genetic predisposition to heart disease, putting them at an elevated risk even at a younger age.
- Underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, are increasingly prevalent in younger age groups and can contribute to the early onset of heart problems.
– Ritesh Srivastava (MBBS, Co-founder and Technical Manager, MCD)
Must Read : How to differentiate between Heart failure, heart attack or gastric pain👇 https://medcollegedarshan.com/index.php/2023/12/08/heart-failure-vs-heart-attack-mi-sign-symptoms-how-to-differentiate-and-treatment/
