Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 25: Realizing the need to boost the morale of the security forces who are working under extreme stressful conditions due to constant tensions on borders and staying away from loved ones and family, Head Department of Cardiology GMCH Jammu Dr. Sushil Sharma held a day long health checkup cum Cardiac awareness camp at Frontier HQ BSF Paloura, Jammu.
The camp started with a lecture on “Stress and Cardiovascular diseases, Possible Causes and Prevention” by Dr. Sushil Sharma with main aim to disseminate knowledge of primary prevention of cardiac ailments and screen high risk individuals and advise regarding further management.
While delivering the lecture Dr Sushil stated that the coronary heart disease is a significant public health issue, due to its high prevalence and mortality rate. A number of clinical and experimental studies indicate that strong emotions, especially negative emotions, such as hostility, anger, depression and anxiety, precipitate coronary heart disease . On the one hand, coronary heart disease patients have difficulty in coping with stress and depression and experience negative emotions, like anger or frustration. On the other hand, positive emotions, especially hope, contribute to health benefits and lead to lower levels of coronary heart disease and other diseases.
He added that stress is a multifactorial response that leads to significant behavioral modifications and alterations on homeostasis and physical and psychological status. The stress response is regulated by the autonomous nervous system, increasing the sympathetic modulation when a threat is perceived and causing increases in the physiological response (heart rate, blood pressure, breathing frequency, glucose levels, etc.). When stressors disappear, the parasympathetic modulation increases, returning the organism to the homeostasis state.
Stress has become a challenge for humans because of its negative physiological and psychological implications, which are normally related to cardiovascular diseases .A chronic activation of the autonomous sympathetic nervous system could trigger acute heart diseases and hypertension. Regarding military population, military operations and combat training simulation exposure are important stressors that influence chronic stress response in soldiers, affecting their performance and physical integrity and cardiovascular health,” Dr Sharma said.
He elaborated that although researchers have no specific evidence as to why a greater amount of active-duty personnel have high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases, “we can always look at some of the risk factors, including high amounts of stress, emotions, smoking tobacco, and a high sodium diet which may contribute to this.” In order to achieve ideal cardiovascular health every one of us including our defence personnel should Reduce salt intake. Salty foods increase your blood pressure which can increases your risk of heart disease. The Heart Foundation recommends adults to eat less than 2000 mg of sodium a day, which is less than a teaspoon.
“Deal with stress in a healthy way, It is important to avoid excessive drinking or smoking to deal with stress. Try encouraging your loved one to reach out to others for help, use daily exercise and practice healthy eating patterns. Yoga is also a good tool that may lower blood pressure, reduce stress and blood glucose levels,” Dr Sharma said.
DIG Frontier HQ BSF Dr K S Kumar and Dr Lokeshwar Khajuria appreciated the efforts of Dr Sushil and his team for conducting cardiac awareness cum health checkup camp for the welfare of BSF Jawans and imparting knowledge, awareness about Cardiovascular Diseases.
Others who were part of this camp include Dr Nasir Ali Choudhary (Cardiologist) and Dr Dhaneshwer Kapoor. Paramedics and Volunteers includes Kamal Sharma, Raghav Rajput, Raj Kumar, Sandeep Pal, Lovely Malpotra, Sunil Kumar , Gourav Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Paramjeet Singh.
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