Do your exercises carefully at gym; Expert

Chandigarh, July 19, 2014: “Those who just think of shedding their weight with in a target period to impress their partners, could well become victims of cardiac problems. If one would do moderate exercise then no harm but if one involved in severe exercise then it could lead to platelet activation and clot formation or acute plaque rupture in heart arteries.”
This was stated by Dr. Anurag Sharma, Sr Consultant, Intervention Cardiology at Max Super Speciality Hospital (MSSH) , Mohali while speaking during a Health Talk at DLF IT Park here on Friday. The talk was organised for the corporate employees.
Dr Sharma said that the incidences of heart attack were otherwise not very common in the persons who go to gymnasium. The thrombosis or clot occurred in heart arteries in those having family history of heart disease. The some risk factors were obesity, sedentary lifestyle, hypertension and a smoker who do aggressive exercise in the gym.”
He said in last 4 months, he has received 3 such cases. All of them have heart attacks during gymping. A young boy having family history of Coronary Artery Disease was overweight. He was doing abdominal exercises aggressively and suffered heart attack during that. Another was 39-yr, with chronic hypertension for the last 10 years and was on very high speed of cross trainer cycler and had massive heart attack during gymping. In a recent incident, 25-yr Rajiv (name changed ) from Sec-15, Chandigarh while doing a very heavy bench press, have to be admitted with heart attack. He had set a target to build up his body and was having muscle building medicines, which was simply not an answer to shed weight or build up a body in such a casual way.”
Talking about the important things that needed to be taken care before joining a gymnasium, Dr Sharma said that one should inform gym instructor on whether he or she has hypertension and diabetes besides smoking status. This was more important if one have family history of heart disease or sudden cardiac death. Hydrate yourself well before and during the exercise so that one did not get dehydrated. Always start the exercise gradually and slowly over few weeks one should go the higher level, he maintained.
Informing on warning signs and symptoms on heart attack during gymping, Dr. Anurag said that one could complain of typical chest pain, heaviness of chest and extreme sweating and sometimes breathlessness suggestive of ischemia.