subject: How strong are our Hearts!!! [print this page] A recent survey has revealed that Indians are very susceptible than before to heart diseases. Indian food is rich and often this coupled with decreasing activity levels is a potential threat. A lot of jobs which young India is taking to are in the service sector which largely involves long meetings and sitting in front of the computer. Also the stress levels in jobs are also increasing with the race to reach the top of the corporate ladder becoming very competitive. The survey coincided with the World heart day - which was on 26th September 2010.
The survey points out that 1 in 4 of the people surveyed had high levels of bad cholesterol. Bangalore fared worst on this parameter. This could be the result of the kind of jobs which are increasingly being taken up by individuals. Also the rapid urbanisation would surely be having a negative impact with stress levels increasing in office and on the roads.
Kolkatta is general was considered to be the most heart-safe! Women performed better than men while men in the age group of 30 to 49 years were the worst affected. Increasing fat around the waist, lack of exercising and poor diet were the main reasons for the poor heart performance of men.
While health care infrastructure is something which the government needs to provide with or without the active participation of the private sector, health insurance is something which we can each take to ensure that we are adequately covered in case of any emergency. The health insurance industry in India is extremely competitive as a result of which we have very attractive annual premiums which one should avail of to have complete peace of mind. In fact each one should have adequate term insurance along with a health insurance plan to ensure that there is enough cover for the family in case of any unfortunate eventuality
There are small steps that each one of us can take to ensure that we live healthy with thumping hearts eat right, exercise regularly and keep measuring yourself through medical tests once a year!
