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Recovering from a heart attack: Regular exercise and a new molecule will help

Recovering from a heart attack: Regular exercise and a new molecule will help
Regular exercise after a heart attack will strengthen your cardiac muscles. © Shutterstock

Scientists have formulated a new molecule that can protect your damaged heart muscles during or after a heart attack. Here, we tell you what you can do to ensure fast recovery from a heart attack.

Written by Paras Hemrajani |Published : August 22, 2019 2:40 PM IST

Heart ailments or cardiovascular diseases have high mortality rate all over the world. In India alone, cardiac ailments took the lives of 2.1 million people in the year 2015, suggests an estimate published by the journal The Lancet. Interestingly, this research also suggests that the post-1970 born population is more vulnerable to cardiac deaths than those born earlier. Heart attack is one of the major drivers of cardiac deaths. During an episode of heart attack, your heart is cut off from blood supply, thanks to the narrowing and clogging of arteries. Lack of blood flow deprives the cardiac muscles of the oxygen they require. This leads to the death of cardiac muscle tissues and heart cells. However, the problem doesn't stay confined to the damaged cells only. They send out signals to the healthy cells nearby increasing the magnitude of the injury. A new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that scientists have developed a new molecule to safeguard heart tissues during or after a heart attack. The new molecule is known as alphaCT11.

This molecule is yet to be made available for human testing and is still at the stage of experiment. While the new development is a ray of hope for the treatment of heart attack, there are small but significant steps that you can take after returning from your hospital stay in order to ensure fast recovery after a heart attack.

Complete recovery can be defined as the return to normal activities. The recovery time varies from a few weeks to 2-3 months, depending on various factors. These factors include the severity of your condition, your body's response to treatment and most importantly, the actions that you take after getting back home. Here is all you need to do for yourself post a heart attack.

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Exercise regularly

Regular exercise will strengthen your heart muscles and make the flow of oxygen-filled blood to your different organs more efficient. Your doctor may ask you to go for a stress test before giving you a go-ahead for exercising. Start working out under the supervision of a certified trainer or in a cardiac rehabilitation centre. Mild exercises like walking or jogging could be a good starting point. Make sure you start slow and you can increase the speed and intensity, depending on your comfort zone. Avoid driving and sex for 2-3 weeks at least, depending on your condition and your course of treatment. If you experience symptoms like shortness of breath, chest discomfort or palpitations, then stop working out immediately and talk to your doctor. While walking, make sure that someone accompanies you.

Follow some diet rules

Along with regular exercise, proper diet is equally important. Avoid deep fried foods. Eat vegetables like kale, spinach, cabbage, whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds every day. Avoid salty chips and adding salt to food. Avoid bacon or any other kind of red meat as it contains high amount of fat and sodium. Sodium makes it difficult to be pump oxygen filled blood.

Try to eat fatty fish at least once a week. A study published in the Harvard School of Public Health has suggested that fishes such as tuna, salmon and mackerel contain omega-3 fatty acids which will help ease inflammation and prevents formation of blood clots by keeping your triglycerides levels in check after a heart attack.

Control your stress levels

Stress is a major factor behind blood pressure, one of the main driving factors behind heart attack. So, you should completely avoid stressful situations at both home and work after a heart attack. Resort to yoga to keep stress levels under control. In any stressful situation always take a deep breath. It will work wonders.

Look out for the signs of depression

It is often seen that depression takes over the patient shortly after heart attack. Look for signs of clinical depression: Lack of interest in things that you once loved doing, insomnia, fatigue, guilt, difficulty in concentration, so on and so forth. Consult your doctor if you find any of the symptoms.

Stick to wine

Binge drinking, or heavy drinking can be responsible for irregular heart rate. This could cause further increase the risk of muscle damage and increase the risk of heart attack. Alcohol could block the blood flow and stop your heart from pumping blood normally. However, red wine is known to be good for your cardiac health. According to a study published in The University of Wisconsin, you can consume red wine and beer in moderate amounts, as they help in reducing the inflammation. Red wine contains a compound called resveratrol, which has heart healthy effects.

Avoid second-hand smoking

Smoking cigarettes is a complete no-no for people suffering from many conditions including heart ailments. If you are recovering from a heart attack you also need to avoid second-hand smoke. This is because it builds fat inside your arteries which may lead to high blood pressure, a major factor behind heart attack and other cardiac conditions. The impact of second-hand smoke is worse on heart attack patients because their cardiac muscles become weak.

Keep your heart monitored at regular intervals

It is important that you keep monitoring your heart health regularly after a heart attack. Your doctor may ask you to go for tests like computed tomography (CT) scan or blood pressure monitoring at regular intervals. Also, make sure that you don't miss your regular check-ups. As the heart tissue heals itself your medication also needs to change, keep asking your doctor for updates regarding the medicines.