September 29 is
observed as World Heart Day across the world. The day is observed to raise
awareness about heart health and discuss ways to keep this critical organ free
of disease. Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of deaths and
often claim young victims. Consequently, it becomes important to maintain
constant vigil on the condition of one’s heart and maintain a lifestyle that keeps
the heart healthy for a long time.

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Cardiovascular disease
killed nearly 17.9 million people in 2016, making up for 31% deaths globally.
Of these, 85% people died of heart attacks and strokes. In India, 27% of all
deaths were due to cardiovascular diseases. Diseases of the heart are also responsible
for 45% deaths in the 45 to 69 age-group. The theme of World Heart Day 2021 is “Use
heart to connect — Harnessing the power of digital health to improve awareness,
prevention and management of cardiovascular disease”.

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So how does one
take care of one’s heart and avoid the heartbreak of cardiovascular disease?
Follow these five easy steps.

Proper, suitable
exercise

Having a balanced
lifestyle is critical to a health heart. It is important to eat well and ensure
proper, suitable exercise. Experts say that it is important to exercise 45
minutes a day five times a week. However, one should be careful with the exercises
one picks up as young people also tend to suffer from exercise-induced
cardiomyopathy, a condition in which a cardiac muscle dysfunction leads to heart
failure.

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Maintaining a
healthy diet

A good and
balanced diet is key to a healthy heart. An excess of carbohydrates and fat in the
diet leads to an excess of glucose metabolism. This in turn causes the arteries
to get blocked, which may lead to heart attacks. Further, too much protein can
create a load on kidneys which leads to high blood pressure, which too can lead
to heart attacks.

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Stress
management

Young people often
work long hours, get stressed out and are unable to sleep well or eat at the
right times. A hefty intake of sugar, coffee and cigarettes are often used to
manage the stress of the job. People keep piling on weight and are not careful
about their heart health. These often lead to a gradual weakening of the heart
which may not be visible immediately. Diagnosis can often be delayed in such
cases and lead to fatal outcomes.