Heart attacks are generally considered to affect elderly folks. Somehow, there is this perception that children or young adults are immune to them. For all this time, we have bracketed the age at which someone can suffer from a heart attack and this has, in many ways, prevented us from being able to diagnose heart disease in young adults.

However, according to the Indian Heart Association, 50% of all heart attacks in Indians occur under 50 years of age and 25% of all heart attacks in Indians occur under 40 years of age (source: Times Of India). But how is this disease (which was very limited to a particular age group for a long time), slowly crawling its way into a younger population?

There are many reasons why the young population is becoming more susceptible to heart attacks, the primary one being lifestyle choices.

The road to a healthy heart is through the stomach – it’s said that what you eat is what you become. A lot of factors like our body’s cholesterol, blood pressure, insulin levels and much more depends on the food we eat, which directly affects our heart health. Good nutrition, thus, becomes a necessity to keep cardiovascular diseases at bay.

Mental health = physical health – young adults live a very stressful life these days. Since there is a direct connection between mental health and heart health, it is highly recommended to seek medical help if need be.

Make it ‘work-out’ – most of the young adults are work in a 9 to 5 job and hardly find time to work on themselves. Physical movements will help your body lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and keep your weight at a healthy level.

Addictions – excessive smoking and drinking are harmful to heart health. They could result in an increase in blood pressure, increase cardiomyopathy, stroke, cancer, and other diseases.

And even though people who are obese or have high blood pressure are more vulnerable, even seemingly fit people can suffer from cardiac arrests for many other reasons.

Sometimes the symptoms of underlying heart disease are very indirect, especially in young women, making them difficult to diagnose. Since heart attacks are thought of as something that only old people can get, the symptoms of it are usually ignored in the young population. No matter what age group you belong to, if you break into a sweat for no reason, have pain or tightness in the chest, suffering from nausea and indigestion or any other symptoms of heart attack, you should get your heart checkup done.

The doctors, however, say that undiagnosed heart abnormalities since birth or developed during childhood is the main reason why seemingly fit young people get heart attacks. Kawasaki disease and Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy could cause heart attacks in both men and women under the age of 40-

• Kawasaki disease: a condition which involves inflammation of the blood vessels. This prevents the vessels from carrying oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Children having Kawasaki could develop serious heart diseases in the future.
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: is usually inherited and caused by a mutation of the genes in the heart muscles. The condition is characterized by enlarged cardiac muscle cells. This enlargement causes the walls of the ventricles to thicken, which can block the blood flow. The ventricle must then work harder to pump the blood flow making physical activity unsafe, and often escapes early detection.

It is very important these days to not bracket the age at which heart attacks can occur. A 10-year-old child is as vulnerable as his 75-year-old grandfather. Young women too, are more prone towards heart attacks. While one can have no control over inherent diseases like Kawasaki disease and Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, there is always an option of making healthy life choices.

Similarly, getting your heart checkup done every once in a while will help you keep a check on your heart health. Get your heart checkup done at the best chelation therapy center – Bangalore Wellness Center today!