JAMMU: An extra-large body needs an extra-large amount of blood. When you gain weight, your heart has to pump more blood. Instead of beating more often, the heart grows slightly larger so it can move more blood with each beat. The increased flow often leads to high blood pressure, which is a major cause of heart disease.
This vital information was shared by Head, Department of Cardiology in the Government Medical College and Super Speciality Hospital (GMC&SSH) Jammu Dr. Sushil Sharma during a day-long camp at Gorkha Nagar in the heart of Jammu city. He said, “Even if your blood pressure doesn’t climb, your heart can suffer from extra workload”.
“When the chambers of the heart grow larger, they slowly lose some of their squeezing power. Eventually, they may not be able to completely empty themselves with each beat. As blood starts pooling in your heart, you can develop congestive heart failure,” he said and added that excess body fat can set off a cascade of other changes in the body that raise the risk of heart trouble.
“If the fat is distributed in the midsection, the risk is higher; a waist measurement of more than 35 inches in women and 40 inches in men spells an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Large amounts of belly fat can blunt the effects of insulin, making you vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes, a condition that seriously threatens the heart,” said Dr. Sushil. He was of the opinion that extra fat in the body can also lead to extra fat in the blood.
Dr. Sushil said that overweight people often have high levels of artery-clogging LDL cholesterol and if too much cholesterol sticks to arteries, a condition called atherosclerosis, could lead to heart attack or a stroke. He added that extra weight can also be a sign that you’re hurting your heart in other ways and many people are overweight because they eat high-fat diets and shun exercise.
Sushil who had been invited to hold day long camp by Social Workers Santokh Singh and Raj Kaur said that if you shed some pounds and rein in your blood pressure and cholesterol, you’ve done your heart a big favour.
The team of doctors which screened the patients included Dr. Mohi Kalsotra, Dr. Dhaneshwar Kapoor, Dr. Achint Singh, Dr Jasleena and Dr. Atul Sharma. Paramedics and volunteers who were part of the team included Kashmiri Lal, Kamal Kishore, Sanjay Sharma, Gaurav Sharma, Vikas Kumar, Rajeev Vohra and Aman Gupta.