Dr. P.Thirumalai

Lifestyle is one of the best defences against heart disease. All you need to do to maintain good heart health is to just make simple but significant changes to your lifestyle. By doing so, you end up minimising the risk factors associated with heart disease such as coronary artery disease.

The lifestyle changes that you must make for a healthy heart are:

1. Be physically active - Research by Harvard University shows that watching television for 2 hours a day can increase your chances of developing heart disease by 15%. But if you exercise or indulge in some kind of physical activity for about 30 minutes every day, you can significantly improve the health of your heart as any kind of physical activity improves your blood circulation as well as blood pressure.

2. Maintain a healthy body weight - Having a low body weight or a high one can also put you at risk of getting heart disease. For a good heart health, you need to protect it from fatigue and damage. By keeping your weight at an optimum level, your blood circulation, as well as body fluids, end up working efficiently, protecting your heart from unnecessary strain.

3. Have a balanced diet - Foods that are low in calories but high in fibre and nutrients are what your heart needs to stay healthy. A very common cause of heart disease is the consumption of high cholesterol foods like processed meats, desserts, etc. Including seafood like tuna or salmon, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean proteins such as chicken and fish to your diet can reduce your risk of developing heart disease.

4. Manage stress - Stress is another factor that causes you to have poor heart health. To prevent the damaging effect that stress can have on your heart, exercising is what you should do. This is because when you exercise, you release endorphins (brain chemicals that trigger a feel-good feeling in your body), which help in improving your physical and mental makeup. Additionally, exercising has also been found to reduce your chances of dying from a heart attack.

5. Quit smoking - Research reveals that smoking raises your chance of getting heart disease by about 2-4 times. It causes plaque (fatty deposits) to accumulate and harden in your arteries, making your heart to exert itself harder than normal. By kicking the habit, you reduce the strain that is caused to your lungs, thereby to your heart. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Cardiologist.

Most families refer to their newborn baby as their 'bundle of joy'. The news of a child being born brings immense joy to the entire family. However, due to various reasons, a child could be born with some medical abnormalities, which would be known as congenital abnormalities.

If your child has a congenital heart defect, it means that your child was born with a problem in the structure of his or her heart. Some congenital heart defects in children are simple and don't need treatment. Other congenital heart defects in children are more complex and may require several surgeries performed over a period of several years.

There are several different types of heart defects that can be congenital. These usually manifest themselves either immediately after birth or in the early years of life. In some cases, the abnormality could be detected on prenatal ultrasounds. In others, it may not be and the family could be caught off guard about the condition. This causes a lot of stress, both for the child, who does not receive regular postnatal care and for the parents immediately after the delivery process.

If the baby has the following symptoms within the first few hours of life, there could be a serious underlying condition, which requires medical attention. The presence and severity of the symptoms would depend on the actual abnormality.

1. The skin is pale gray or blue in color due to excessive venous flow in the system
2. Excessive sweating
3. The child is exerting to breathe regularly
4. Rapid breathing causes added load on the heart accompanied by a grunting noise
5. Flared nostrils i.e. the baby attempts to take in more oxygen with each breath causes flared nostrils
6. Swollen legs, eyes, and abdomen: Fluid retention in the legs and abdomen is quite common, and this could be characteristic of newborns with congenital heart disease
7. Shortness of breath, even during feeding
8. Clubbed fingernails
9. Lethargy and low energy, even with feeding, therefore very poor feeding pattern
10. Chest pain, which may cause the newborn to cry incessantly
11. Low weight gain, as they feed less

In some children, symptoms manifest only during the teenage years or early adulthood. These conditions are not very severe and the symptoms include:

1. Swelling of the hands, feet, and ankles due to fluid accumulation
2. Lowered energy levels, leading to easy fatigue
3. Shortness of breath with even minimal physical activity
4. Inability to exercise
5. Developmental delays and changes in growth milestones
6. Recurrent respiratory tract infections including sinus infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia
7. Endocarditis
8. Pulmonary hypertension
9. Heart failure, where the heart is not able to effectively function and pump blood to all parts of the body.

Some or more of these symptoms should trigger a warning to get the child tested for congenital heart disease. While some would just require a monitoring until severe symptoms develop, severe conditions like holes, abnormal valves, narrowed arteries, and blood vessel abnormalities might require immediate intervention. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a cardiologist.When to see a doctor

Serious congenital heart defects are often diagnosed before or soon after your child is born. If you notice that your baby has any of the signs or symptoms above, call your child's doctor.

If your child has any of the signs or symptoms of less serious heart defects as he or she grows, call your child's doctor. Your child's doctor can let you know if your child's symptoms are due to a heart defect or another medical condition.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!