57% of Hyderabadis with belly fat at heart risk
Jubilee Hills: This World Heart Day, Saffolalife flagship study has found that 57 per cent of Hyderabadis who exhibit one or more of lifestyle behaviours like lack of sleep, stress, sedentary lifestyle, skipping meals and belly fat, are at heart risk.
Understanding the impact of these underlying habits is key to better heart health awareness and care. Therefore, to create greater awareness regarding these lifestyle habits that lead to heart risk, Saffolalife commissioned a survey which was conducted by Nielsen covering 1,226 respondents across key cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Some of the startling facts from the study revolve around the growing incidence of heart risk amongst those who are stressed or get inadequate sleep. The Saffolalife study also revealed interesting pegs across geographies and demographics in the top cities in India:
- Amongst all the three cities and considering people who exhibit one or more of these lifestyle behaviours,
- Hyderabadis show the lowest incidence of heart risk
- Across the three cities, while 57% of people aged 30-40 years who are stressed are at heart risk, this number increases to 71% in the age group of 41-55 years
- 88% of men and women in Hyderabad who have belly fat and are at heart risk do not even consider it as a Top 3 risk factor
Dr Vasu, Consultant Cardiologist, Virinchi Hospital, says: "Our lifestyle habits can have a fundamental impact on our heart health. However, there is a lack of awareness and acknowledgement about these and therefore we tend to ignore these small risk factors.
The Saffolalife study states that 88% of Hyderabadis who do not exercise regularly and are at heart risk, do not even consider lack of exercise among the top 3 heart risk factors. This study is a wake-up call for us to take proactive steps towards heart health in order to ensure overall body health."
Nutritionist Sujatha Stephen observes,"The Saffolalife study has shown startling data about the relationship between our lifestyle and its impact on our heart health. Most of us are guilty of ignoring one or more of these small lifestyle behaviours that can have massive impact on our hearts.
Making small, positive changes in our regular lifestyle like eating right, sleeping well, regularly exercising and keeping a track of our belly fat can greatly reduce the risk to our heart."
Saffolalife™ is a not-for-profit initiative, started more than a decade ago, working towards driving awareness on heart health in India. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have been on a rise in India and Saffolalife's mission is to reduce the CVD statistics to make India heart healthy, according to a press release.