100 take part in ‘walkathon’ on World Heart Day at Sukhna Lake

The Voice of Chandigarh :

As many as 100 people including doctors and para-medical staff of IVY Hospital, Mohali participated in a ‘walkathon’ at Sukhna Lake.

The walkathon was organized to mark World Heart Day. It was flagged-off by Dr. Varinder Sarwal senior cardiac surgeon from Rock Garden and culminated at Sukhna Lake.

Standup comedian Rajiv Goldy was chief guest during the occasion and Pooja Srinivasa, India’s 1st ITU level 2 certified triathlon coach and international triathlete was guest of honor during the occasion.

Dr Rakesh Sharma and Ruchir Rastogi, both cardiologists, also participated in the walkathon.

During the walkathon, the participants in line with this year’s World Heart Day theme ‘Use heart, know heart’ raised awareness on the importance of a healthy lifestyle and diet for the good health of the heart . They were also carrying placards highlighting the importance of a healthy heart.

Speaking during the occasion, Dr. Varinder Sarwal said that heart disease today is the single largest killer in the world.

He said, “Recently we are seeing a lot of young deaths. It’s alarming and the main reason for that is burn out because of competitive age and pressure of targets and deadlines. To prevent it along with diet control and regular exercise and changing habits like smoking and alcohol the young generation should know their numbers through simple tests like Echo/ TMT and CT angiogram. Genetic testing is another important test for those who have this disease in their family.”

To recover from daily inflammation one needs to have 8 hours of sound sleep and if we adopt these we can prevent this disease to a large extent, he maintained.