Prevention of Angina and Heart Attacks through
Adoption & Maintenance of Healthy Life Style Program

Angina and Heart attacks occur due to blockages produced by deposition of cholesterol in the wall of the coronary arteries which supply oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. The blockage in coronary artery starts as early as 5 years of age and continues to build up as age progresses. When blockages have increased to more than 70% then the person starts experiencing angina (chest pain in the centre of chest typically radiating to left arm), breathlessness or palpitations on physical or mental exertion. This process of blockage due to deposition of cholesterol in the wall of coronary arteries is called coronary atherosclerosis or coronary artery disease (CAD). Sometimes one of the blocks cracks or ulcerates and leads to clot formation thereby causing sudden 100% blockage of that artery, leading to heart attack. 25 to 30% patients die in the first heart attack before reaching the hospital.

If the person does not change his lifestyle (psychological behavior, diet, exercise, sleep habits) he or she develops recurrent heart attacks leading to many heart related illnesses and ultimately death.

In India, about 10 to 15% of adult population (more than 5 crore people) are suffering from CAD. Every year, more than 50 lac people suffer fresh-heart attacks out of which 15 lac die before reaching the hospital. Moreover, the prevalence of CAD in younger population (20- 40 years of age group, the most productive years of life) is 10 times more in Indians as compared to Americans and Europeans. 54% of Indians have their all the three coronary arteries diffusely diseased as compared to only 21% in Americans and Europeans, thereby making them unsuitable for even coronary bypass surgery or angioplasty.

The prevalence of CAD is increasing everyday in India and it is estimated by WHO and other World Health agencies that by 2010, 60% of all the heart patients of the world, will be from India.

Medical scientists all over the world have been working hard day in and day out to find out, the real cause of angina & heart attacks. Recently, many well designed studies the world over, have shown that the psychological behavior patterns e.g. type A behavior (person with hurry sickness, feels pressurized by time, work, his own likes and dislikes, perfectionist, idealistic, punctual, aggressive, competitive,polyphasic -performing various tasks at the same time etc.), anxiety, depression, anger, sensitive and emotional behavior, feeling of isolation, lack of social support, lack of emotional support, cynicism, hostility, job stress and family stress play very important role in causation and progression of coronary blockages & formation of clots which in turn lead to angina and heart attacks. These psychological behavioral patterns also lead to wrong dietary habits, wrong exercise habits, wrong sleeping habits and poor control of conventional risk factors of CAD eg. hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol levels, over weight, smoking habit etc thereby these coronary blockages start increasing by leaps and bounds at an early age.

We, at J. Watumull Global Hospital and Research Centre, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University,. Mount Abu have developed a unique user- friendly Healthy Lifestyle Program to combat the menace of epidemic of CAD. Efficacy of this healthy life style program has been evaluated in two multidisciplinary prospective research studies in more than 800 angiographically documented CAD patients, in which psychologists, physiologists, endocrinologists, cardiologists, clinicians, dietitians, fitness experts and spiritualists worked hand in hand for more than 6 years.

In these studies J. Watumull Global Hospital and Research Centre, Mount Abu joined hands with Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied sciences. Defence Research and Development Organization, New Delhi, and collaborated with prestigious institutions from all over India. This project was sponsored by CCRYN, Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Govt. of India, New Delhi and Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, Mount Abu.

The results of both the studies were recently presented in Asia-Pacific Congress of Cardiology which was organized by World Heart Federation at Singapore .These results were accepted and widely appreciated by top cardiologists and clinicians from all over the world. Highly significant improvements in symptoms like Angina, breathlessness, palpitations, exercise, tolerance, left ventricle ejection fraction (EF), healthy improvement in psychological parameters have been observed. Highly significant reduction in drugs required for management of angina, hypertension and diabetes was also observed. For the first time highly significant opening of coronary blockages has been observed in repeat angiographies by an independent panel of angiographers, in all the patients who have sincerely followed this user- friendly healthy life style program. Even some of the 100% calcified blockages have also opened up in these patients.