10 Ways to Take Charge of Your Heart Health

Use the following tips – 10 Ways to Take Charge of Your Heart Health – to embark on a heart-healthy lifestyle to fight heart disease by AMRI Hospitals specialist.

1. Schedule a Yearly Checkup

Your heart is in your hands. Each year on your birthday, schedule a checkup to have your blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels checked, and ask your doctor to help you reach or maintain a healthy weight. Be sure to follow your healthcare professional’s recommendations, including taking prescribed medications as directed.

2. Get Physical

Step, march or jog in place for at least 15 minutes a day while watching your favorite TV shows. Increase your activity by five minutes each week until you’re getting a minimum of 30 minutes most days of the week.

If exercise and diet do not get you to your goal, ask your doctor about adding medication.

3. Drink More Water

Take a water bottle with you wherever you go. It’ll keep you hydrated and the bottle’s weight will strengthen your arms.

4. Eat Healthy

Keep packages of unhealthy food hidden. Put raw veggies and fruits in front in the refrigerator and healthy snacks in the front of the pantry, so that’s what you see first. If you grab healthy foods for a minimum of 21 times, healthy choices will become a habit.

5. Control Cholesterol

Eating foods high in saturated fat, trans fat or cholesterol can lead to high blood cholesterol. To help keep your cholesterol levels down, eat foods low in saturated fat and trans fat, such as lean chicken or turkey (roasted or baked, with skin removed), fruits and veggies, low-fat or fat-free dairy products and whole grains.

6. Cut Down on Salt

To help lower high blood pressure, watch your salt intake. It may be disguised in food labels as sodium alginate, sodium sulfite, sodium caseinate, disodium phosphate, sodium benzoate, sodium hydroxide, monosodium glutamate (MSG), or sodium citrate.

7. Quit Smoking
Try this four-step way to kick your habit:
On Day 1, cut the number of cigarettes you smoke by half
On Day 3, cut the number of cigarettes you smoke in half again
And on Day 5, cut your smoking in half again
On your Quit Day… quit!
Keep your numbers in check: Quitting Smoking

8. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Excess weight increases your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. To achieve steady, painless weight loss, take it easy. Each day, if you eat 200-300 calories less than you would normally consume, and exercise at least 30 minutes on most or all days of the week, you’ll get closer to your goal and be able to achieve weight loss that’s steady and painless.

9. Stay Positive

If you get off your exercise schedule, have a cigarette, or eat a fattening meal, immediately get back on track toward re-establishing a healthy lifestyle.

10. Give Yourself Credit

To maintain momentum with exercising, losing weight, or quitting smoking, keep track of your achievements and reward yourself by doing something you enjoy.

AMRI Hospitals introduced Free Bike Ambulance Services in Bhubaneswar, Odisha

One of the premier private healthcare providers in Eastern India, AMRI Hospitals, Bhubaneswar, has introduced Free Bike Ambulance Service for the first time in the region. These two-wheeler ambulances will offer fast access to lifesaving equipment, bridging the gap between quick response and timely medical aid with patients in need.

With the help of these ambulances, early intervention in case of emergencies like heart attack, trauma, stroke and accident will help in saving precious lives. Handled by trained paramedics, each bike ambulance is fully equipped to stabilize road traffic accidents on the spot. These bikes are not only helpful in reducing the response time as compared to the four wheelers, but can also initiate treatment at home in case of medical emergencies.

The four-wheeler ambulances often get stuck in the traffic and fail to reach on time, thereby increasing the response time. During medical emergencies, every second is important for the well-being of a patient. The bike ambulances can zip through the traffic and save significant time during an emergency.

All units of AMRI Hospitals have always been on the forefront of innovations related to healthcare facilities. These hospitals come up with new advancements to enhance patient care services.  Social media campaigns and awareness programs are repeatedly launched on different occasions by AMRI Hospitals Bhubaneswar to educate the people about new technologies and the prevailing diseases.

The Bike Ambulance Service launched by AMRI Hospitals is expected to cater to the emergency needs of the people in Bhubaneswar and provide quick and efficient care within a short span of time. This concept has already gained a lot of popularity in other parts of the world, and is expected to operate with great success in the eastern region.

Natural Blood Purifiers: 8 Foods You Must Add To Your Daily Diet To Purify Blood

Your blood is responsible for a lot of things; ranging from transporting oxygen, hormones, sugar, fats and cells to your immune system to cleansing your body system and further keep it moving. Toxins are stored in our body on a daily basis through certain types of foods, pollution and stress among other factors. Detoxification process boosts the immune system, improves the skin and regulates healthy changes. While your lungs, kidneys and liver do a great job of purifying your blood naturally, there are foods that may make the job slightly easier. Before that, we’d like to bring your attention towards why it is important to detoxify and cleanse blood:

• You will be less prone to skin problems like acne, blemishes and dry and unhealthy skin, all of which indicate impurities present in the blood.
• Blood cleansing also helps eliminate the risk of various health and skin conditions that are caused by impure blood, which include allergies, headaches, nausea, et al.
• A healthy blood supply impacts major organs and their functions. Kidneys, heart, liver, lungs and lymphatic system are all dependant on a healthy blood count.
• Blood cleansing is important for uninterrupted transportation of gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen to and from the lungs and the rest of the body.
• Blood purification process helps to regulate your body’s pH value, water balance and temperature.
• Healthy blood contains white blood cells that help minimise blood loss from an injury and ensure a healthy platelet count.
  

  Here are foods that may help stimulate the blood purification process:

  1. Broccoli
  Broccoli is said to be one of the best natural blood purifiers that helps remove toxins from the body. This veggie comes loaded with calcium, vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids, dietary fibre, potassium, manganese, phosphorus and glucosinolates. Regular consumption of broccoli ensures loading up on antioxidants that help detoxify blood and boost the immunity system. Toss it in your salads and include it in your everyday delicacies. Here’s how you can include more broccoli in your diet.
  2. Fresh Fruits
  Fruits like apples, plums, pears and guavas have pectin fibre that is useful in cleansing blood. They not only bind with excess fats in your blood but also with heavy metals and other harmful chemicals or waste and remove them efficiently. Moreover, the lycopene glutathione found in tomatoes is useful for eliminating waste and chemicals. Don’t forget to add a bunch of berries like strawberries, blackberries and cranberries to your diet that help keep your liver health in check.
  3. Green Leafy Vegetables
  You may not be a fan of green leafy vegetables, but let us tell you that these veggies are loaded with essential nutrients and antioxidants that keep diseases at bay. Choose from kale, lettuce, spinach and mustard greens to ensure a healthy blood flow. These greens are responsible to increase enzymes in the liver that help promote the blood detoxification process.
  4. Beetroot
  Beetroot is said to be a natural source of nitrates and antioxidant betalains that can reduce inflammation and oxidative damage in the liver. Most studies have shown that beetroot juice helps increase the production of enzymes that naturally detoxify the body. Add beetroots to your salad bowls or desserts.
  5. Jaggery
  A popular sugar alternative mostly found in Indian households is known to be a natural blood purifier. This unrefined sugar has fibre that helps cleanse the digestive system, prevents constipation and expels waste from the body. The high iron content in jaggery helps restore haemoglobin levels and keeps healthy blood flowing in the body. Moreover, it is known to eliminate clotted blood from the body, further helping cleanse blood.
  6. Water
  Water is one of the most common and simplest natural blood purifiers. Kidneys flush out toxins from the blood through urine and water is your best bet to help stimulate this process. Water expels all the harmful chemicals and toxins in your body and help the organs function well. According to Ayurveda, an ideal way to use water as a blood purifier is to store some warm water in a copper vessel overnight and drink it the next day on an empty stomach. The copper tends to cool your liver down from excess work it’s done to detoxify your blood and the water helps stimulate the waste elimination process.
  7. Turmeric
  Turmeric is one of the best natural healers that help fight inflammation. It can help promote liver function. Its curcumin compound is known to be the fighter for most problems in our body. Turmeric milk, recommended by most experts, generates red blood cells besides piling your body with essential nutrients and acting as a health tonic.
  8. Lemon
  Warm water with lemon is said to promote the breakdown of fat and also tends to ease the load on your kidneys, while the vitamins and minerals in the lemons help detox your blood and overall body system.
  Go on and add these essential foods in your daily diet and make sure you have a healthy and purified blood system.
  SOURCE – food.ndtv.com

A quick guide to the symptoms, risk factors and treatment of Heart Diseases

Heart diseases pose a great threat to human life. They are one of the leading causes of deaths globally. However, keeping a check on the symptoms can safeguard you to a great extent, say experienced cardiologists at AMRI Hospitals. The causes and symptoms of a heart disease depend upon its type and condition. Listed below are some of the most common signs that indicate an impending heart attack:

• Slow or racing heartbeat
• Dizziness and fatigue
• Coughing
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Discomfort or pain arising at the centre of chest (also known as angina)
• Discomfort spreading to different parts of your upper body
• Shortness of breath (also known as dyspnea)
• Palpitations (feeling like your heart is beating too fast)
• Restlessness
• Your arms may feel heavy
• Choking feeling in your throat
• Sweating, which may be very heavy
• Breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or light-headedness

What increases the risk of a heart disease?

• Weak heart muscles
• Congenital heart defects (heart defects since birth)
• Excessive smoking. Heart attacks are much more common in smokers as compared to non-smokers
• Unhealthy diet
• The risk of heart diseases is also determined by your sex; men are usually at a greater risk of heart attacks
• Age also has a major role to play in it; aging increases the issues related to damaging and narrowing of arteries, which further weakens your heart muscles
• Poor hygiene: medical experts at AMRI Hospital warn that unhealthy habits like not washing your hands regularly lead to viral or bacterial infections, which increase the risk of heart infections
• Poor dental health also contributes to the risk of heart diseases
• Lack of exercise
• High blood pressure (hypertension): it hardens your arteries and further narrows down the vessels through which blood flows
• Excessive alcohol or caffeine intake
• High cholesterol increases the risk of plaque formation in your blood
• Drug abuse
• Diabetes
• Unrelieved stress tends to damage your arteries and worsen other risk factors for heart disease
• Family history of heart problems, especially heart attacks and strokes
• Obesity
• A few chemotherapy drugs and radiation therapies can also increase the risk of heart diseases

How to prevent a heart attack?

Various ways have proved effective in alleviating the risk of a heart disease. Small changes can bring about a major difference to your cardiovascular health, say senior cardiologists at AMRI Hospital, Kolkata. Listed below are some of the best ways to keep a check on your heart health:

• Quit smoking
• Eat a healthy and balanced diet
• Avoid dairy products with added sugar and high calorie content
• Avoid animal proteins, and include nutrients like as potassium, calcium, and magnesium
• Don’t consume food with excess salt
• Ensure proper exercise
• Keep a check on the levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, triglycerides, and Body Mass Index (BMI)
• Maintain a healthy body weight
• Manage stress. Health experts at AMRI Hospitals recommend taking out some time every day to do something that relaxes you
• You can take a low-dose aspirin each day after consulting your doctor
• Ensure proper sleep
• Keep a check on your alcohol and caffeine intake
• Ensure plenty of exercise

SOURCE: hugecount.com