Patna, Sept. 27: The Cardiological Society of India (Bihar chapter) has asked the state government to create awareness about heart diseases in the run-up to World Heart Day on September 29.

Society president and head of cardiology department at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), B.P. Singh, said: 'Prevention is the best way to beat heart disease. This can be achieved by creating awareness.'

The society will urge the state government to create awareness from the school level itself, he said. 'Preventive measures to check heart diseases should be included in the school syllabus.' In this regard, society members will meet health minister Mangal Pandey and submit a memorandum so that a chapter on heart diseases, reasons and preventive measures could be included in the syllabus. According to Singh, around 60 million people in India suffer from coronary heart problems, and 30 million of them are under 40.

Similarly, around 10 milli-on people under 30 suffer from heart problems. Though there is no clarity on number of people affected by coronary heart diseases in Bihar, around 12 per cent of the population has heart problems - seven per cent in urban areas and five per cent in rural areas.

Singh said that apart from urging the government to include preventive measures in the syllabus, the society would request the state government to ban cigarettes and other tobacco products which account for major heart problems.

V.P Sinha from the cardiology department at PMCH, and also ex-committee member of the society, said factors such as smoking, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, psychological stress and hypertension are factors that aid heart diseases.

'Physical inactivity, overeating and junk food are major contributors to obesity, a ma-jor factor for coronary artery disease,' Sinha said. 'People should walk briskly (at 1km in 10 minutes) for at least 40 minutes daily.' S.S. Chatterjee from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology said: 'Diabetics are 2-3 times more likely to suffer from heart diseases. So diabetes should be detected early and treated.'

He said people with stress, anxiety and depression are prone to heart diseases. A person should adopt yoga, relaxation exercise and meditation to beat heart disease. A proper diet, preferably vegetarian, is also preferred. Including lots of green vegetables, salads, fruits, milk and milk products and avoiding excess salts, alcohol, tobacco, red meat, ghee and junk food goes a long way in keeping the heart in good shape.