[GTO]

Source

BMW India boss Rudratej Singh died from cardiac arrest at just 46. SAP India boss passed away at merely 42. Last week, Bird Automotive CEO died at 48.

You know what was common between all of them?

1. They were all middle-aged, and too young to die.

2. They all suffered a heart attack either while working out, or right after the gym.

I think there is a trend to be observed here. As Moderator Samurai frequently states, those in their 40s & 50s have to be mindful of their age while exercising. Your body gives up earlier at this age, recovery takes longer and injuries become stubborn. Don't push too hard in the gym. You aren't a 25-year old athlete anymore; go a bit easy on the treadmill / cycle instead of pushing your limits to 100%.

When it comes to taking care of our hearts, we only hear the usual + important lifestyle advice = exercise, reducing stress, healthy eating, good sleep etc. But all these incidents most certainly are wake up calls for those of us in our middle age. Don't overdo it on your cardio workouts please.

[V.Narayan]

Sermonizing starts .....

A little bit of exercise is much much better than no exercise. A lot of exercise is only a slightly better than a little bit of exercise. Exercise is only one component of your get fit stay fit regime. Your diet and your sleep are the other two equally vital components. Overdoing anything earns a reaction be it over eating, over exercising, imbibing too many medicines, sleeping too little. The human body was designed for long steady walking as a part of primitive man's need for survival. Our bodies were meant for limited running. Moderation works best. Every age has its charm, its toys, its joys. Enjoy the age you are - you won't be this age again. When 30 be a 30-year old ; when 60 be a 60-year old. Our media and culture of the last 60 years has aped the West in eulogizing youth and youthfulness. Fact is if we don't hanker after being 25 forever we discover being 48 or 61 is actually more fun.

....Preaching ends.

[poloman]

You can exercise, you can diet, you can do everything under sun for a healthy life. But your longevity won't exceed what is engraved in your genes. An obese person may live up to 90 years, where as a seemingly healthy person may die in his forties. There is no point in overdoing the so called healthy ways of life. The only thing which may help in this regard may be yearly health check ups.

[rm_arjuna]

Sleep Deprivation & Stress is one of the major contributor to sudden death due to Heart Attack . Minimum 6-8 hours of good sleep is very important .

[greenh0rn]

At least in the case of Ankur, I read that he had just recovered from Covid. Now, Covid is known to induce blood clotting, which frequently results in artery clogging and cardiac arrests (heart attack is often cited as cause of death in victims of severe Covid). Only a guess here but Covid might have played a trigger in Ankur's case.

What's a safeguard for people like me and my mom who recovered from Covid? Our doctor advised us both to take blood thinning medicines. My mom was also advised to take repeated D-Dimer tests (a special blood test to detect clotting), as her score was abnormal in the first test.

My advise as a common man with no medical education to all who have recovered from Covid recently is to get their D-Dimer test done (please do check with your GP/doctor as well), and if needed, take blood thinning medicines for a few days. I was given something called Ecospirin, which has Aspirin that is anyways prescribed for preventing heart attacks.

[tilt]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Sermonizing starts .....

*SNIP*

....Preaching ends.

Error: Did not compute. "start" not found for "Preaching"; "end" not found for "Sermonizing"

Apologies, a little bit of programmer humour if I may

Cheers

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by GTO

As Moderator Samurai frequently states, those in their 40s & 50s have to be mindful of their age while exercising. Your body gives up earlier at this age, recovery takes longer and injuries become stubborn. Don't push too hard in the gym. You aren't a 25-year old athlete anymore; go a bit easy on the treadmill / cycle instead of pushing your limits to 100%.

I keep repeating this advice whenever I can, and almost always ignored by the young bucks in their 40s.

Men generally have their peak functional strength and endurance between 35-48. This is the norm in martial arts world where people are really pushed to the limit. Even a person who can run 5kms effortlessly will be panting at the end of 5 minutes of grappling. The amount of power spent in grappling is unimaginable to people who have never done it. However, 35-48 is also time when men are heavier, injury prone and lose their ability to recover fast from in injuries and exertion. So there are both pros and cons to this demography.

This is where point of reference becomes very important. Those who started working out for the first time in their late 30s and early 40s are not familiar with injuries and recovery cycle. However, they discover the immense capabilities of the human body for the first time, and they get hooked to it. It is no different than a drug. We are all surrounded by plenty of people who discovered true fitness during 35-48 age. They are a menace on social media platforms.

Those of us who started in the teens or early 20s have additional perspective.
(a) We know injuries/exertion and recovery cycle.
(b) We know about the efficiency of workout.
(c) We can hear signals/feedback coming from the body much better.

One has to workout harder after 35 and even harder after 40 to get the same result. That alone is a red flag. The longer duration of recovery is another red flag. These factors warn us to slow down and take it easy in 40s, and also constantly adjust the intensity based on signals coming from the body.

Let me end with a video of a small friendly grappling match that happened between Rehaan (29) and I (43) back in 2012 in a moderator team meet. The fight lasted barely 5 minutes, while each of us carrying 20kg of armour under the hot afternoon sun. After the bout, I collapsed on the lawn and couldn't get up for 30 minutes, and Rehaan was able to walk away without a break. That is what age can do to you.

https://youtu.be/qAFRogwJ_Ks

[TrackDay]

While the opening post is focusing on guys in their 40's, I have to say that recently in the Covid era a lot of guys in their 30's are also facing this. This not just due to overexerting, but also from pressure, stress and mental health. From facing all the burdens and pressures of society, the health of most young men are like a bubble waiting to explode.

Also there is lack of proper work balance culture, where emphasis on mental health is less. More than exercise and eating healthy, it is important to get outside, travel, have fun and laugh. This sadly is not the case for most folks on this side of the planet as far as majority of the jobs go.

[VKumar]

The elephant in the room must be addressed, and there are two in this!

While the over-exercise is the catalyst, the real culprit is our lifestyle. Ambition and Stress, when they come together, they take away your sleep, and that loss of sleep and peace of mind is what spoils your personal and professional life. Now to assure that things keep on moving right, one adds more to the stress factor - and that's what makes you unfit, even while the inch tape and weighing machines are shouting that "you are FIT"!

Some lalaji in an old shop in the old parts of the city can be found to suffer with obesity, heart problem, and diabetes too; still he is alive, playing with his grand children, and having a hearty laugh.

Cutting down on unnecessary effort is what one needs, be it in the gym, or in the office (Harsh but true, the company never loves you back, the best they will give you is two minutes of silence). A gentleman who simply walked away from the mainstream politics and decided to play the role in back end operations of party in UP, all this while at the helm of his popularity, simply summed it up saying "safalta agar parivaar aur maansik shanti ki keemat par mil rahi hai, toh badi bhaari keemat chuka rahe ho, jitna humko karna tha, kar liya, ab sukoon se jiyenge (If success is coming at the cost of family and mental peace, then you are paying too high a price for it, I have done what I had to, now I want to live peacefully)"

I have my own friends working in IT and consulting firms, although they have fixed working hours on paper and the list of perks is long enough to fill 1 A4 sheet, but how much they work in real life is astonishing, after office calls, some get mid night overseas calls. Looking at all this, I actually felt that having a business is actually a better option, at least the returns per minute of stress are better!

Rest, I completely agree with the logic of V. Narayan sir (Is it possible to disagree with him?) of the age based lifestyle. Be 30 when you are 30, and be 60 when you are 60.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by greenh0rn

At least in the case of Ankur, I read that he had just recovered from Covid. Now, Covid is known to induce blood clotting, which frequently results in artery clogging and cardiac arrests (heart attack is often cited as cause of death in victims of severe Covid). Only a guess here but Covid might have played a trigger in Ankur's case.

Ankur Bhatia didn’t die of Covid induced heart attack since he had mild Covid last year and not recently as has been circulated in whatsapp. His was a heart attack and that is indeed sad. Too many young achievers lost.

As for the original post by GTO, too much of anything is bad in my view. Things are little different in the Covid era anyways but knowing the capacity of one’s body is always a good habit. Overdoing things in the gym or on the field in order to maintain the fitness often results in mishaps.

It’s always a good thing to keep good practises to be fit but with precautions according to the age. If someone is very fit like a Milind Soman, then there is no harm in indulging in serious workout but they are always the exceptions anyways. The recent deaths of bright executives is an indicator to slow down a little. In this day and age of corporate humdrum, it’s best to listen to your body and take the hint. It’s also an indicator to us that we need to devote more time towards our loved ones since life has become so uncertain these days anyways !!

[Guna]

Originally Posted by greenh0rn

My advise as a common man with no medical education to all who have recovered from Covid recently is to get their D-Dimer test done (please do check with your GP/doctor as well), and if needed, take blood thinning medicines for a few days. I was given something called Ecospirin, which has Aspirin that is anyways prescribed for preventing heart attacks.

In general (not specific to Covid cases) I have read somewhere about a suggestion to always carry mouth dissolving aspirin, which should be placed below the tongue at the onset of a possible heart attack. This may be a handy thing for us middle aged folks.

[ninjatalli]

And here I was thinking of the adage "it's not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog...."

Originally Posted by Samurai

One has to work harder after 35 and even harder after 40 to get the same result.

Can I quote you in family discussions everytime someone (not having met me for last 1.5 years) sees me and utters "you have put on weight. I thought you did running and cycling....."


Jokes apart, agree completely. Even at younger middle management levels (last few years have heard several cases of heart attacks of IT PMs & DMs, Directors in consulting organizations, etc.), the situation is similar. A close family member who's in late 40s recently got a heart attack last year. Work pressure and additional responsibilities over time were deemed to be the cause of the problem in his case.

[navin]

Originally Posted by GTO

2. They all suffered a heart attack either while working out, or right after the gym.

Moral: Gyms will kill ya.

I suspect stress and taking oneself too seriously might be the difference. Why?

I am 58. I haven't "worked out" a day in my life. I am overweight and I live on about 5 hours (usually between 1am and 6am but can sleep as early as 10pm and wake as early as 4am) of sleep a day plus a cat nap whenever my body needs one (about 45 minutes sometime between 4pm and 7pm).

I sleep when my body asks for rest, I eat when I am hungry (which does not mean the same time every day) and am normally chilled and for the longest time, have always seen the funny side of things.

By all standards (including genetics) I should be dead. My dad and uncles on both sides are/were heart patients. I should also be bald (all my older male relatives including cousins are bald).

It's either my attitude or maybe I was adopted and no one told me or maybe my mom had an affair or maybe as some friends believe, I am a mutant.

[gkveda]

I am really sorry to hear the unfortunate death at such young age. Exercises may be immediate cause of their death. I wonder if they were preparing for Olympics or any other international gym competition? There are thousands of gymnasts and gym body builders who do 100 times more exercises for Olympics to win gold and silver. After all, these corporate executives were working out just to overcome their obesity and get some shape to the body.

Then, what could be the real reason for their death at such young age? To understand this, we need to know, were they really living their lives before death? The corporate pressure and responsibilities the people at such top positions do not allow them to "live" their lives. They were just existing.

Honestly, people have to stop looking at their career, growth, power and all those corporate nonsense and start living life to the fullest extent instead of just existence for the sake of it. Work should be part of life and not the other way. i.e., life should not become part of life.

Dedicating life to professional career, working for 20-24 hours a day, forgetting the life is the result of these deaths. And people would not realise this fact till they die.

[androdev]

Can someone shed more light on "coronary calcium scoring" in the context of Indian doctors and hospitals? I am interested in real-world experience in Indian healthcare field. A lot of recent research indicates that the usual "annual health checkup" with cholesterol and ECG reports are not very useful for young people when it comes to assessing this risk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcD2a6DNE6g