On 29th October 2021, the whole of Karnataka, and later, the whole of India came to a standstill. The news of the untimely death of popular Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar sent shock waves among his millions of fans. Puneeth, most lovingly called “Appu” by his fans, had succumbed to Cardiac Arrest.
Puneeth Rajkumar was aged only 46 years when he breathed his last. This particular fact has baffled all his fans and others. How could a man, who was known to be a fitness freak, fall prey to Cardiac Arrest, was the one question on everybody’s mind.
Appu has not been the first to lose his life at such a young age. Earlier this year, Kannada actor Chiranjeevi Sarja (35), another young actor of Bigg Boss fame, Sidharth Shukla (40), also, Amit Mistry (47) of Bandish Bandits fame, and well-known stunt director, Raj Kaushal (51) laid down their lives due to Cardiac Arrest too. Cardiac Arrest, Heart Attack, and all such cardio-vascular diseases were synonymous with people aged 60 and above. So, why are younger people facing such problems all of a sudden?
Could we have saved their lives by any chance?
Some experts say, Yes. But how? We will explain it in this article shortly.
First, let us try to understand why young people are facing cardio-vascular disorders nowadays. Top cardiologists attribute such events to youngsters’ lifestyles – unhealthy eating habits, insufficient sleep, increased stress, lack of exercise, smoking & alcoholism.
Watch the video below as Dr. Narayana Murthy, a famous Cardiologist at Sagar Hospitals, Bengaluru explains the same:
Some of you may ask that all the names mentioned above were totally into fitness and workouts. Then, how is it possible that these persons suffered from heart diseases?
Are High-Intensity workouts to be blamed?
Many experts believe that extreme exercises or High-intensity workouts can be harmful to your heart like thickening of heart walls and scarring of the heart. They believe that anyone interested in enrolling for a gym or anyone who wants to practice High-intensity workouts should do the following first:
- Understand your family history with respect to Heart diseases or disorders.
- Get yourself checked by a cardiologist and consult regarding your interest in joining a gym and the type of workout you wish to do.
- Make sure that the staff at your gym or fitness centre or sports centre is trained to handle medical emergencies like Cardiac Arrest, that they know how to perform CPR.
- Confirm if your gym or fitness centre has an AED installed at their place. AED is a medical device used to revive a heart when someone suffers a cardiac arrest.
- While working out, it is very important for you to stay hydrated.
- Understand your limitations. If your gym partner or anyone at the gym is working out for a longer time or lifting more weights than you, it is only because of their body’s ability. And every ‘body’ is different. Workout as per your abilities and trainer’s instructions.
- Do not involve yourself with Steroids.
Is there a way to handle cardiac issues at Gyms?
Watch the video below, where Mr. Shashikumar, an experienced EMS trainer explains how one should handle cardiac arrest and heart attacks at a Gym:
After watching the video, you must have understood how the lives of our beloved actors could have been saved. Three factors were extremely crucial:
- Awareness & knowledge about the first aid techniques for Heart Attack & Cardiac Arrest.
- CPR skills – the knowledge of when to and when not to perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), and the understanding of how to provide chest compressions and rescue breaths.
- Knowing the importance of an AED (Automated External Defibrillator)
The lack of awareness about these factors and negligence from the public and authorities to encourage learning first aid has resulted in unwanted and avoidable deaths. But things can certainly change for good.
One can still learn first aid, get certified in CPR and AED, and protect his/her family, friends, and the whole community.
Click here to learn and get certified in First Aid and CPR
Then comes AED. Since this life-saving medical equipment can prove to be expensive for individual use, it is recommended to install the same for a community like Apartments, gated communities, Gyms, Sports centers, Corporate offices, etc.
To know more about AEDs and how you install such a device at your office, society, institution, click here to learn more.
Is the risk worth taking when it comes to cardiac arrests?
It is very important to understand that Cardiac Arrest is quite deadly. Once a person suffers from a cardiac arrest, there are only minutes available to restart or revive his/their heart. With every passing minute the chances of saving the life of the victim keep decreasing. Studies have shown that survival rates fall by 10-15% each minute without CPR after suffering cardiac arrest.
It may surprise you, but the proportion of people surviving a cardiac arrest that happens outside of the hospital has reached its highest level of 10.8%– twice the rate it was a decade ago when the victim receives CPR. And guess what, when an AED was used by a bystander (a layman) and at least one shock was delivered to patients, the survival rate was more than five times higher (57.1%).
These statistics should convince you to learn first, to learn CPR, to operate an AED, and save valuable lives. It could be the lives of our loved ones. Think about it.
Watch the video below explaining the basics of how to perform CPR:
