The disturbing rate at which young people die of heart attack.

Grace had been at the dance floor for more than an hour now. It was her elder sister's wedding and she just couldn't contain her joy. Suddenly she turned around and saw aunty kemi smiling at her from where she was seated. Grace couldn't believe her eyes and she screamed . she immediately rushed to embrace the elderly woman.

This would be the first time in almost 10 years that Grace would be seeing her favorite aunty since she travelled to Europe. No one told her that she would return to the country for simi's wedding. Well, it was actually meant to be a surprise.

The two ladies were still laughing and in her state of excitement, Grace suddenly felt dizzy and missed a step. Due to the heels she was wearing, she suffered an unpleasant fall to the ground which twisted her ankle. The other wedding guests quickly surrounded her as she cried in pains. They tried to help her up but she couldn't walk as her ankle was very painful. So they had to take her to a house nearby where a doctor would later attend to her.

After her ankle had been treated and plastered, the doctor instinctively asked her if she were hypertensive and she said no. Just out of curiosity and experience, the doctor proceeded to gauge her blood pressure nonetheless.

Grace couldn't believe it when the doctor declared that she had a very high blood pressure. She was further perplexed when the doctor revealed that if she hadn't suffered this ankle injury and his attention was called upon, she would have returned home thinking that she was OK only for her to drift into coma in a few days later ......

Contrary to popular belief that an heart attack is a concern for the elderly, the rate at which folks below the age of 40 are succumbing to heart attack is quite disturbing. Infact, most times it comes without warning . what's worse is that some of it's signs which includes sudden and irregular palpitation of the left side of the chest accompanied by severe sweating are often ignored by young folks who most times dismisses it as stress and would rather take a little rest rather than getting themselves examined.

These are vital signs that there could be a momentary blockade of blood flow through the heart and this could lead to sudden cardiac arrest that might result to an abrupt stop of a heartbeat.

We all have heard about stories of students, athletes and performers who had suddenly slumped while in action and in some cases, become lifeless. The causes of sudden cardiac arrest in young people have always been linked to ( but not limited to) drug or substance abuse, obesity, sex enhancers, high cholesterol levels in the blood with little or no exercise, stress and eating habits. But in most cases, heart attack in youths could be congenital especially when it happens that the left wall of the heart becomes abnormally thick (normally it's thicker than the right side). In such a situation, the heart would be working extra hard in its task of pumping blood, thereby building a high pressure . Also, because some major valves ( e.g aortic valve) in the left ventricle could become stiff due to thickening, a high blood pressure could continue to build leading to angina (chest pain). This is normally common in folks older than 50.

If you are or you know someone who might be having chest pain that usually spread to the left arm and the back from time to time. Please don't hesitate to take that person to see a doctor and not any doctor but a cardiologist. It's also very important that one should be very honest with the medical expert because Information like the patient's health records, how frequent the pain occurs and wether there's a relative or parent who had suffered from a heart attack at any point in time would go a long way in making the condition very clear to the doctors.

Adapting an ideal lifestyle which includes regular exercising, reduction in alcohol consumption, quiting smoking and eating healthy also goes a a long way in the protection of a young heart.

Thanks for reading and continue to stay healthy 💝😁