Dr Shaiful Azmi Yahaya, chief clinical officer and senior consultant cardiologist at Institut Jantung Negara (IJN), debunks the myth that heart-health issues only appear when you’re older.
Myth 1: ‘I’m a teenager and in good shape – what’s there to worry about?’
Did you know that if high cholesterol runs in your family, plaque can start forming in your arteries as early as childhood?
Food is also a risk factor: eating very fatty foods from a young age, especially fast food, can lead to plaque buildup that worsens as you get older.
So, what practical steps can teenagers take to keep their hearts healthy?
“Lifestyle is the most important thing. For teenagers, whatever we teach them will carry on into their adult life,” said Shaiful, 56.
“If we teach them the wrong things – wrong food, wrong way of doing things, and not exercising, for instance – these become habits that they will continue practising later in life.
“So, it’s very important to teach them the correct habits from young.”
Myth 2: ‘I’m in my 20s to 40s – I’ll start worrying when I’m 50’
“When I was doing my training as a medical student in Hospital Kuala Lumpur about 30 years ago, I realised that people were eating at night, and they were eating nasi lemak. I told myself – we are going to see a lot more heart diseases at a younger age,” Shaiful recalled.
Thirty years down the road, his prediction has come true. “We have heart attacks among people in their 30s and 40s – and even as young as 20-something.”
Apart from poor dietary habits, he notes that other contributing risk factors include smoking, lack of exercise, and stress.
Left uncontrolled, these can lead to ischaemic heart disease, where the heart does not receive enough blood to function properly. This, in turn, increases the risk of heart attacks, among other complications.
Myth 3: ‘Diabetes has nothing to do with my heart’
Shaiful cautions that being a diabetic is “equivalent to someone who has had a heart attack before”.
“The risk of getting a heart attack among diabetics is the same as the risk of someone who has had a heart attack before and might get one again,” he explained.
For diabetics, it’s therefore important to keep sugar levels low and cholesterol under control, as well as maintain a healthy weight.
The bottom line
In addition to adopting a healthier lifestyle, it is important to go for regular check-ups and screenings. Even if you’re below 50, be sure to check your blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol and body mass index (BMI) regularly.
Additionally, going for an X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG) or stress test can help you to stay on top of your heart health.
It’s never too early to care for your heart. Book a screening with IJN today.
Learn more about IJN via its website and on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.